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61sT Congress! 
2it Session i 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 



(DOCDMENT 

\ No. 150 



JAMES M. GRIGGS 

(Late a Representative from Georjj;ia ) 

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 

DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF 

REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATE 

OF THE UNITED STATES 

SIXTi'-FIRST CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 



Proceedings in the House 
April 17, 1910 



Proceedings in the Senate 

May 2S, 1910 



COMl'ILED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF 
THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON PRINTING 



fh 



i 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
1911 







MAP " 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Page. 

Proceedings in the House 5 

Prayer by Rev. Henry N. Coiulen, I). D 5,8 

Memorial addresses by — 

Mr. Roddenbery, of Georgia 10 

Mr. Howard, of Georgia 15 

Mr. Hardwiclc, of Georgia 21 

Mr. Clark, of Missouri 24 

Mr. Pou, of North Carolina 28 

Mr. Hughes, of Georgia 32 

Mr. Ellerbe, of South Carolina 35 

Mr. Robinson, of Arkansas 38 

Mr. Edwards, of Georgia 42 

Mr. Goulden, of New York 49 

Mr. Brantley, of Georgia 51 

Mr. Lee, of Georgia 58 

Mr. Adamson, of Georgia 62 

Mr. Bell, of Georgia 71 

Mr. Bartlett, of Georgia 75 

Mr. Michael E. Driscoll, of New York 81 

Mr. Alexander, of New York 86 

Mr. Kahn, of California 88 

Proceedings in the Senate 91 

Prayer by Rev. Ulysses G. B. Pierce, I). D 91 

Memorial addresses by — 

Mr. Clay, of Georgia 93 

Mr. Curtis, of Kansas 98 

Mr. Overman, of North Carolina 100 

Mr. Dixon, of Montana 104 

Mr. Bacon, of Georgia 107 



[3] 



i 




HON. JAMES M.GRIGGS- 



DEATH OF HON. JAMES MATHEWS GRIGGS 



Proceedings in the House 

Thursday, January 6, 1910. 
The House met at 12 o'clock m. 

Praj'er by the Chaplain, Rev. Henry \. Couden, D. D., 
as follows : 

Trusting in Thy loving kindness, O Father, we dra\\ 
near to Thee for that uplift of the spii-it which shall put us 
in harmony witii Thee, that we may go forward doing the 
work that Thou hast called us to do, with faith and confi- 
dence in Thee and faitli and confidence in the work Thou 
hast given us to do. 

Once more, () Father, by the sudden deatli of one of the 
Members of this House, beloved and honored by all who 
knew him, we are r-eminded of the shortness of life and of 
its uncertainties, and we pray for him, his soul, and for 
the mourning widow and his children, that they may be 
comforted as Thou alone canst comfort, drawing them to 
tlie larger life, where they siiall as a family once more be 
brought together, to live with Thee and to do Thy will, in 
a realm of love and peace and liarmony, through Jesus 
Christ, our Lord. Amen. 

Mr. Livingston. Mr. Speaker, it becomes my painful 
duly to bring to the attention of the House tlic lamented 



[5] 



Memohiai. ADDHiissKs : Representative Griggs 

death of my late colleague, Hon. James Mathews Griggs, 
a Representative in Congress from the State of Georgia, 
who was suddenly and unexpectedly stricken at his home 
in Dawson, Ga., on yesterday afternoon. 

It is not my purpose now to indulge in remarks of eulogj' 
or tribute to his memory and character, but at some future 
time I shall ask that a day be set apart that fitting tribute 
may be paid to the life, character, and public services of 
our deceased colleague. 

I now offer the following resolution, which I send to the 
desk and ask to have read. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

House resolution 197 

Resolved, That the House lias heard with profound sorrow of 
the death of the Hon. James Mathews Griggs, late a Representa- 
tive from the .State of Georgia. 

Resolved, That a coniniittee of 28 Members of the House be 
appointed by the Speaker to take order superintending the funeral 
of Mr. Griggs at Dawson, Ga., and to attend the same with such 
Members of the Senate as shall be appointed by the Senate. 

Resolved, That the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House be, and he is 
hereby, authorized and directed to take such steps as may be 
necessarj' to carry out these resolutions, and that the necessary 
expenses in connection therewith be paid out of the contingent 
fund of the House. 

The Speaker. The question is on agreeing to the reso- 
lution. 

The question was taken, and the resolution was 
agreed to. 

The Chair announced the following committee in pur- 
suance of the resolution : 

Charles D. Edwards, Dudley M. Hughes, W. C. Adam- 
son, L. F. Livingston. C. L. Bartlett, Gordon Lee, William 
M. Howard, Thomas M.'Bell, Thomas W. Hardwick, Wil- 
liam G. Brantley, Sereno E. Payne, John Dalzcll, Samuel 

[61 



Pn(i(:i;i.i)i\(is IN Tin: Ilorsi; 



W. McCall, Ebenezer J. Hill, Henry S. Boutell, Jamos Car- 
son Needhani, ^Yillianl A. Caldcrhead, Joseph W. Ford- 
ney, Joseph H. (laines, Nicholas Longworth, John W. 
Dwight, William R. Ellis, Champ Clark, Oscar W. Under- 
wood, Edward W. Pou, Choice B. Randell, Rbbert F. 
Broussard, and Francis Burton Harrison. 

The Speaker. The Clerk will report the additional reso- 
lution. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of 
the deceased the House do now adjourn. 

The Speaker. The question is on agreeing to the resolu- 
tion. 

The resolution was agreed to. 

Accordingly (at 12 o'clock and 52 minutes p. m.) the 
House adjourned. 

M.\RCH 10, 1910. 

Mr. RoDDENBERY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent 
for the present consideration of the resolution which I 
send to the Clerk's desk. 

The Clerk read as follows:. 

Ordered, That there shall be a session of the House on Sunday, 
the 17th day of April, at 12 o'clock, to be set apart for eulogies on 
tlie life, character, and public services of Hon. J.\mes M. Griggs, 
late a Representative from the State of Georgia. 

The Speaker. The gentleman asks unanimous consent 
for the present consideration of the resolution which has 
just been read. Is there objection? [After a pause.] 
The Chair hears none. 



L7] 



Memorial AiinKiissKs : Ri:i>resentative Griggs 



St^nday, April //, 1910. 
Tlic House met at 12 o'clock iii. 

The following prayer was ofl'cred by the Chaijlain, Uev. 
Henry ISk Coiiden, D. D. : 

Eternal God, our heavenly Father, from whom cometh 
all the deep, tender atfections and manly virtues which 
strew life's pathway with achievements great and glorious, 
and which bind mankind into one great family, so that 
when one member sufllcrs all suffer and when one rejoices 
all rejoice with him, we thank Thee that thongh the 
Members of this House come from widely separated dis- 
tricts, representing diverse interests, strong in their party 
affiliations, each stamped with an individuality all his 
own, yet friendsliips are formed which Ijreak through all 
barriers and unite them in a lasting brotherhood. So 
when the angel of death comes and claims his own all 
hearts are touched and vibrate with deepest emotion. 
Hence in response to those feelings we are here to-day in 
memoiy of one who made himself a place in the hearts 
of all who knew him. 

Help us, we beseech Thee, to strive earnestly day by day 
to fulfill our highest and noblest aspirations, that we may 
leave a record which shall inspire those who come after 
us to pure, noble, useful lives. Comfort all who knew and 
loved him. Be especially near to the bereaved wife and 
fatherless children; comfort them by the blessed hope of 
the Gospel, that they may look forward to a reunion with 
their loved one in some other of God's many mansions, 
and Thine be the praise, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. 
Amen. 



Proceedings in the House 



The Speaker. The Clerk will read the special order. 
The Clerk read as follows: 

On motion of Mr. Roddenbcry, by unanimous consent. 
Ordered, Tliat there be a session of llie House on Sunday, the 
17th day of April, at 12 o'clocli, to be set apart for eulogies on 
the life, cliaracter, and public services of Hon. James M. Griggs, 
late a Reijresentative from the State of Georgia. 

Mr. Livingston. Mr. Speaker, 1 offer the following reso- 
lutions. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Hcsolvcd, That the l)usiness of the House be now suspended, 
that opportunity may be given for tribute to the memory of Hon. 
James M. Griggs, late a Member of this House from the State of 
Georgia. 

Resolved. That as a particular mark of respect to the memory 
of the deceased, and in recognition of his distinguished career, 
the House, at the conclusion of these exercises, shall stand 
adjourned. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the 
Senate. 

Resolved, That the Clerk send a copy of these resolutions to 
the family of the deceased. 

The question was taken, and the resolutions were unani- 
mously agreed to. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Living- 
ston] will take the ehair. 

Mr. Livingston assumed the ehair as Speaker pro tem- 
pore. 



[9] 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



Address of Mr. Roddknbery, of Georoia 

Mr. Speaker: During tlio short period of my official 
association in Washington nothing has so impressed me 
with the fickleness of life's tenure and the certainty of 
death as the frequently recurring occasions that com- 
mand the accustomed routine of national legislation to 
cease its functions that reverence may be done the mem- 
ory of those who but yesterday, in the vigor of life, 
standing in tliese aisles, gave utterances, from vibrant 
hearts, to patriotic speech. 

We have now come to record the final mark of official 
respect to the life and character of my distinguished 
predecessor, Hon. James Mathews Griggs, late of the 
State of Georgia. 

So far as I may, Mr. Speaker, without disregarding the 
demands of dutj' and hitherto unvaried customs, 1 desire 
to yield the time of the House absolutely to my colleagues, 
the honorable Members who served in Congress with 
Mr. Griggs, that they may speak of his public services 
and avail themselves of this opportunity fitly to honor 
his memory. 

No resume of the many notable qualities appertaining 
to the life and career of Mr. Griggs would do justice to 
eitlier that omitted to emphasize the intimate relation 
which for 13 years existed between him as a Representa- 

[10] 



Addkess of Mr. Roddenbeky, of Georgia 

tive and liis immediate constituency as the represented; 
and it is equally imperative that note should be made 
of the feeling of proprietary interest which the masses 
of the people of his district felt that they had in his 
public career. Hence the House will indulge me. in 
speaking of Mr. Griggs, to direct my remarks to personal 
observations on his relation to his people at home; and 
the expression '"at home" must be interpreted to com- 
prehend the total area of the 18 counties comprising the 
district whose citizens for many years yielded to him 
jjolitical fealty and ofTicial trust. 

The life of Mr. Griggs at home was marked for its 
frankness and simplicity. His greatness in office erected 
no barrier between him and the humblest citizen; while, 
under our theory of government, he was a representa- 
tive of the " whole people," in point of actual fact, he 
enjoyed throughout his public career the unique char- 
acteristic of being regarded by each one of the " whole 
people " as an individual representative. His intimate 
personal acquaintance at lu)me was restricted to no cer- 
tain portions of the district; he knew the people not 
casually, but his individual knowledge of them was 
marvelous. He seldom met a citizen of the district whose 
business, whose lineage, and whose name he did not know. 
The people did not "know of him" — they knew him; he 
did not only have a general familiarity with his district — 
he knew it and personally recognized his constituency, 
man to man. His faculty of recognition was naturally 
acute and by cultivation it had attained almost to perfec- 
tion. It may be doidited if any Mendjer of the House more 
nearly approximates a personal acquaintance with the 
individual person or constituent than did the lamented 
Member whose life and chai-acler we now review. 

His friendships were fast — not a mere political friend- 
ship — but the ideal and genuine attachment which we 

[11] 



Mi;.M()HiAi. Adijhkssks : Rki'hi:sentaiive (imcds 

encounter more oi'leii in pretense than we perceive in 
fact. The man wlio was once drawn to Mr. Grig(;s never 
found an abatement of friendship; lie attracted men to 
him by his marked personality and held them always by 
the magnetism of the man. 

It is no marvel among the citizenry at home that thou- 
sands stood aghast at the announcement of his death 
which, like the shadow of an unheralded eclipse, dark- 
ened the dawning of a new-born year. 

I have known him in both district and State political 
contests to enter into vigorous struggles, always contend- 
ing aggressively for his opinions and insistently for his 
views, and nevertheless, unlike most men, he would 
emerge from the conflict to find his opponents none the 
less his personal friends and oftentimes all the more his 
future political allies. Few men possessed this quality 
of magnetic attraction in so pronounced a degree; it 
was a present asset that always enabled him to discharge 
in full measure every personal political liability, jind such 
was the integrity of the nuui that no obligation to his 
friends was ever repudiated. 

He was a master in the art of controlling the conduct 
of men and bringing them to see as he saw; herein lay 
much of his success in public life and made him through- 
out his career a potent factor in molding the course of 
political events in his State. 

Still speaking of the characteristics of Judge Griggs 
as they are known at home, he never forgot the service 
of a friend and he seldom, if ever, sought to inflict a pen- 
ally upon a political foe. He had no personal enemies. 
This was not because he was a negative character; in- 
deed, as has already been observed, he was a positive 
equation in every relation; such was his candor in an- 
tagonism and fairness in controversy that no man, though 
diflering in political opinion, could bear toward him 

[12] 



AnnRFSs oi Mn. I!(lill)I;M!l:l(^ . oi {ii;(iH(,iA 

personal ill will. When llir shadows of an evil moment 
w^oiild begin to weave an ill-hued veil to entangle his 
friendships, the very sunshine of his countenance would 
dissolve it, tlie ever-aboiniding geniality of his nature 
would dispel it. 

This speech entei's upon a too hallowed labyrinth to 
indulge over fulsome praise, l)ut mark you, Mr. Sjjeaker, 
1 am adverting to traits and qualities as expressed in the 
life of your late colleague as lived at home, whence can 
be summoned unfaltering witnesses in numbei's countless 
to vouclisafe verity. 

The solicitude of Mr. (1rk;(.s for the desires of his con- 
stituents was only equaled by the certainty of his success 
in gratifying them. It is said of him tliat the most unim- 
portant inquiry from a resident of his district would 
unfailingly receive acknowledgment by the first mail, 
and 1 know, as a fact, that it was no unusual occurrence 
for him to journey from Georgia to Washington to give 
attention to Ihe request of a constituent, and it mattered 
not to him tlial the particular constituent was of insignifi- 
cant political inlluence. Friend and constituent were 
interchangeable, if not synonymous, words with Mr. 
Griggs, and the calls of either for his aid never had 
inaction for a reply nor irrcsponsiveness for an answer. 
When those who had claims upon liim commanded, he 
responded. Allliough political exigencies, of necessity, 
required his friends to do much for iiim, lie had an 
antipathy to accepting llie good graces of others without 
reciprocal deeds in return. 

His friendshii)s were intense, and the quality of inten- 
sity was often manifested by doing for others, even to 
extremity. Where it could be done without public detri- 
ment, he would cause to be tenq>orarily abolished a post 
ofTicc to relieve a friend of embarrassment; he ^^ould 
overcome the strict rules of military enlistment that an 

[13] 



Memorial Addresses: Rei»ri;si;\tativI' (inicGs 

erring volunteer lad might be given back to his i'amily; 
and he would work a relaxation of the rigid exactions of 
naval regulations in order that a repentant boy in tlie 
Pliilippines might cross the Pacific seas to gladden a 
Georgia home. 

Thus through the medium of little things — yet great 
things — he forged enduring friendships and exhibited the 
real bigness of liis heart and tenderness of liis soul. A 
strong personality, the charm of nuignetism, gift at anec- 
dote, a readiness of wit, an aptitude at repartee combined 
with native intellectual endowment to make iiim strong 
and popular with the people of his State ami invincible 
at all times in the second congressional district. 

After 20 years of acquaintance and association, some- 
times opposing his views, I am qualified to testify to 
his great ability, and if I were obliged to record an opin- 
ion as to the one most pronounced personal quality of 
this remarkable man it would be that throughout a long 
and eventful public career his fidelity to his friends was 
never tainted with a breath of suspicion nor veiled in a 
mist of doubt. 

So long as kindness of heart, loyalty, geniality, candor, 
and whole-souled magnanimity are virtues to be coveted, 
so long will tliese distinguishing traits of character of 
James Mathews Griggs constitute a human narrative 
well worthy of assiduous study and a religious efnulation. 

Having discoursed thus upon a lamented fellow-citizen 
and public servant, restricted peculiarly to a review of 
his most distinctive characteristics at home, 1 now com- 
mit a further consideration of his life, character, and 
labors in Congress to those present who enjoyed the 
distinction of contemporaneous service, knowing full 
well that fitting tributes will be bestowed and that when 
this Mouse shall adjourn it will mark the ofiicial closing 
of the volume of a life whence we may learn the surest 
way to the hearts of men. 



[14] 



Address of Mr. Howard, of Georgia 

Mr. Speaker: James Mathews Griggs was born at 
Lagrange, Ga., March 29, 1861, and died at his home in 
Dawson, Ga., on the 1th day of January, 1910. He was 
educated in the common scliools of Georgia and at the 
Peal)ody Normal College, at Nashville, Tenn., from which 
institution he was graduated in May, 1881. Griggs was 
a man fully 6 feet tall, broad shouldered, deep chested, 
and erect body, large head, high and broad forehead, 
fair complexion, light-blue eyes, an open countenance; 
bright, iiappy looks beamed constantly from his face, 
which easily relaxed into genial smile or jovial laughter. 
Tile motions of his body were quick and his eyes restless 
with alertness. He was withal a handsome man, with 
engaging manners and such abundance of vitality as 
made him easily a leader in whatever company he was 
placed. Fatherless in his early boyhood, and poor from 
distressing losses of his parents from war. life to him was 
a battle before his youthful body had developed to the 
weight of armor needed in its conflicts. The schools 
which he had an opportunity to attend were as good as 
any of the Georgia communities of the time aiTorded, but 
it was a time of j)overty and desolation everywhere, dur- 
ing which the facilities for education were meager, and 
common schools, t'lom the lack of means and equipment 
and skilled instructors, were conspicuously deficient, yet 
Gri(;gs at 20 graduated from the Peabody Normal Col- 
lege at Nashville, Tenn., where his proficiency had earned 
him a scholarship, with a mind as well trained by the 
work of schools as anv man of his dav and State. 



[15] 



Memoheal AmiKESsiis : Hhpresentativi: (iruccs 

He was to mc a striking illustration that it was more 
the boy than the school. Textbooks and drilling helped 
in the training and development of his faculties, but his 
splendid intellect was not the product of the school but 
of nature; what was true of the boy was magnified in the 
man, and his quickness of perception, rapidity of thought, 
and unfailing memory were the great and basic qualities 
of the mind that would have shone sui^erior and resplen- 
dent had his misfortunes of boyhood been greater than 
they were and had they deprived him of all the benefits 
the schools conferred. 

His first effort at self support was as a .school-teacher, 
and, quickly following this, he began the study of law, 
and in this field in his brief career he mastered it in the 
twofold aspect of a science and a profession. Like so 
many of the poorer, but talented, young men in Georgia, 
he was forced to make his start in the country, not in the 
crowded city, where many influences arc necessary to the 
rapid advancement even of men of talent. Being jjoor. 
he could not meet the expenses of living while he waited 
for the rewards of his toil. 

Griggs settled first at Alapaha in 1884, in the county of 
Berrien, now many times multiplied in its population and 
richer in wealth than when the young man entered it a 
briefless barrister, and even with the aid restricting the 
cost of living to the emoluments of his profession, he 
found it necessary to devote some of the time not 
demanded by the law to the ])ublication of a newspai)er. 
He did not tarry long at Alapaha, but removed in the 
following year to the more prosperous town of Dawson, 
where his talents enabled him to realize from his greater 
opportunities richer rewards, both in money and pro- 
fessional experience. In 1888 he was elected by the 
legislature of his State to the ofiice of solicitor general 
of the Pataula judicial circuit. In this office his duties 



[161 



Address of Mr. Howard, of Georgia 



required him to attend the sessions oi" tlie superior court 
of ii dozen counties and prosecute all crimes within their 
jurisdiction. This was an exceptional opportunity lor 
his signal talents. In addition to a knowledge of the 
law, the successful discharge of the duties of that olFice 
retjuiretl firmness and courage. With a knowledge of 
human nature generally and capacity to discern individual 
traits of character he combined the power both of close 
analysis and clear statement so necessarj' to persuade and 
convince juries. So successful was he in the administra- 
tion of his oflice that after a term of four vcars he was 
reelected in 1892, and in 1893 resigned to accept the 
appointment by the governor of Georgia of presiding 
judge of the Pataula circuit, and was twice thereafter 
elected by the State legislature judge of that circuit, which 
olUce he resigned in 189G to become a candidate for 
Congress. 

The rapid elevation which marked his career is a tribute 
to more varied qualities than 1 have yet ascribed to him. 
To his qualities of mind and his attainments as a lawyer 
he added qualities of heart which completed his character 
to that roundness and attractive proportions which ac- 
counts for his personal popularity and secui'ed his nomi- 
nation and election to Congress when 85 years of age. He 
had already held ottices and discharged their varying 
duties with such wisdom and consequent public approval 
as is seldom accorded to men so young in ycai's. His 
service here began with the meeting of the Fifty-fifth 
Congress in extraordinary session, in March, 1897 — a ses- 
sion memorable for the enactment of the Dingley tariff 
act. His convictions on the tariff were those of his party, 
both in 1897 and in 1909. He believed in tariff for revenue 
and voted and spoke his convictions by that formula of 
his party's faith. His first conunittee assignment was to 
the Committee on the Post-OlTice and Post-Roads, and his 



-.■5.502"— 11 2 [17] 



RIkmohial Addresses: Repkesentative Griggs 

work there was diligent and his policy progressive. No 
man contributed more than he during his service to the 
rapid extension of rural tree delivery. He represented 
an agricultural district of the richest possiliilities, rapidly 
growing in population and in wealth. Visiting the homes 
of farmers whose condition and wants he not onl}' knew, 
but sympathized with, his efforts were the result of an 
appreciation of the benefits of the service in developing 
the country and adding lo the comforts of the country 
home. Perhaps no congressional district in Georgia was 
more rapidly fiilcd with rural routes than his, and no State 
in the South had the benefit of this service generally so 
soon as Georgia, largely due to his faithful and efHicient 
advocacy of the rapid extension of the service. He was 
one of the first to recognize and advocate that the rural 
carrier should be adequately paid for his services and to 
propose by bill and advocate by speech a rural parcels 
post. 

His mind grasped with comprehensive power all the 
problems of government and his horizon of decision was 
as wide as the country itself. While partisan in the sense 
that he was loyal to his party and its creeds, he was tol- 
erant of the man who opposed his views. He was uncom- 
promising with a principle. l)ut never lost the large- 
hearted qualit}^ of fraternity with those whose opinions 
difl'ered from his own. 

In a waj' this accounts for the fact that he had personal 
friendships with the Republicans and Democrats alike, 
and his personal intercourse was not confined to his party 
associates. His manner was frankness itself and his dis- 
position one of utmost geniality. He knew men by intui- 
tion and rarely made a mistake in his judgment or mis- 
placed his confidence. He coidd not live in estrangement 
from any man. His resentment of offense was quick, and 
so far as humanly possible, just, but his conduct toward 

[18] 



Address oi Mh. Howahd, oi (iEonoiA 



men was not based upon grudges; his daily life was the 
fresh inspiration of a heart void of all malice and memory 
purged of hitter recollection. Considering his remarkahle 
activity of mind and bodj', the vast number of people he 
knew intimately, he had his share of disappointments in 
men, but he did not live his life bound up by them. He 
was always ready to make an investment of hope in liis 
fellow man which I'equired charity of judgment to expect 
a return. Quick of mind, warm of heart, and impulsive 
in action, it was not siu'prising that in a body like the 
American House of Representatives, a body of rapidly 
changing units, he was perhaps the most popular figure 
on either side throughout his career in the House. 

Griggs was elected chairman of the Democratic congres- 
sional campaign committee in 1902 and again in 1906. 
This position made liim a national figure, and he met the 
responsibilities of it witli marked success. He widened 
the circle of his acquaintance with prominent men and 
overcame by talent and tact the prejudice against intrust- 
ing the delicate task of partj' management to the hands of 
a southern man. He succeeded here as he did everywhere 
because he had an intellect atiequate to his task and a free- 
dom from pri'judice tliat rendered him tolerant of all 
shades of opinion with his party and persuasive in com- 
bining the remotest sections bj' a sj'mpathy that embraced 
them all. He did not do the laljorious work of the student 
and there is no large accumulation from his pen or 
recorded speech. His contact with life was with men. He 
gave and received impressions by personal touch and not 
through the abstractions of contemplation. His influence 
was that of mind and character acting in complex comin- 
nation upon mind and character, flashing its signals 
through eyes antl coinilenance. and making them audible 
with laughter and in speech. He had, as every strong man 
lias, his intimate personal friends, and he kept them so 



[19] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Gkig(;s 

because there were no locked chambers in his heart. Who- 
ever enjoyed the favor of his confidence and friendship 
had the privilege of knowing the whole man to the deepest 
recesses of Iiis soul. To his companions his coming was 
always looked for with anticipations of delight, and when 
he had come he diffused hope where there was gloom; 
more of courage, if there was fear; more of comfort, if 
there was sorrow. His ^\■as a strong, joyous life to which 
every weaker nature clung, and all of us having recollec- 
tions of him and experience with him mourn his taking ofl'. 



[20] 



Address of ]\Ir. Hardwick, of Georgia 

Mr. Speaker: I shall not undertake to-day to give a 
biographical sketch, however brief, of our late colleague 
and friend, James Mathews Griggs. I shall not under- 
take to discuss his public career generally or his long and 
brilliant service in this body. Others will doubtless per- 
form these labors of love for our dead friend. It is not 
of Judge Griggs, the able lawyer, the forceful prosecuting 
attorney, the impartial and incorruptible jurist, that I 
would speak. It is not of Congressman Griggs, the influ- 
ential and powerful Member of this body, serving his 
State and district through seven consecutive terms of 
valuable and efficient effort, and retaining through it all 
the confidence and love of his constituency and his asso- 
ciates, that I woidd speak. 

It is of Jim Griggs the man, the companion, the friend, 
that I would speak, and whatever simple tribute my 
tongue or pen can frame shall be laid not at the pedestal 
of the monument with which a grateful constituency has 
already commemorated his public virtues, but at the feet 
of that picture of him that memory has left to those of 
us who were his closest a.ssociates and warmest personal 
friends during the years of his service here. Gifted to 
a most remarkable degree, dowered by nature with that 
peculiar combination that makes a man loved by his fel- 
lows, I doubt if any man has served in Congress from 
any State, in the whole history of this body, who was 
more widely known and more universally loved by his 
fellow Members. 



L21] 



Memohial Addresses: Representative Griggs 

Quick wilted and keen tongued as he was, liis wit had 
a kindliness in it tliat sprang from a warm heart and a 
generous nature; and liiough the shafts from his bow 
were often barbed, there was a kindliness in the graceful 
way in wliieli the archer sped them that robbed them of 
their sting, even when they reached the mark. Full of 
anecdote and fun, full of life and action, full of anima- 
tion and of vivacity as he was, our friend had upon him 
that hall mark of a really good fellow — he could both 
tell and appreciate a joke upon himself. 

Politically I often differed with him, although we were 
both members of the same party, but personally I always 
loved him. 

In political battle he was as brave and as fearless as an 
old-time knight, hut when the storms of battle had passed 
away they left no bitterness in his soul, and one of the 
chief elements of his strength was the possession of a 
mind broad and big enough to be thoroughly tolerant of 
the views of those who did not agree with him and of 
a heart too loyal, too true, and too tender to cherish or 
retain animosity toward his fellows. 

The finest tribute I can pay his memory to-day is to 
say that those of his associates who knew him best mourn 
him most. 

He was not of the hypocritical, self-righteous tribe of 
scribes and pharisees, but was a generous-hearted, warm- 
natured, red-blooded man, and intensely himian and 
always lovable was the personality we now miss and 
mourn; fortunate, indeed, will each of us be if when the 
fight each of us is making shall have finally ended 
and we stand at last before the Omnipotent Judge we 
shall leave behind us as many sincere, loving, faithful, 
mourning friends as our late colleague has left behind 
him, at home, in this body, and wherever the currents of 
his life have touched. 



[22] 



Address of Mr. Hardwick, of Georgia 

1 loved liini as a num. 1 miss him as an associate. I 
mourn him as a friend. To-day, while we are giving this 
expression of our sorrow at his death, our friend has 
already lifted the impenetrable curtain that veils eternity. 
Its time-old mysterj' is mystery no longer to him. Its 
unknown shores arc no longer chartless for him. He has 
solved the mystery of human life and mortal death and 
to those of us who have a faitii that after death there 
is life everlasting, the hope does not seem vain or ill 
founded that our friend, with his lovable personality, his 
splendid qualities of mind and heart and character, has 
found both forgiveness and favor in the eyes of that 
Great Judge who never errs. 



[23] 



Address of Mr. Clark, of Missouri 

Mr. Speaker : For many years Georgia has been denomi- 
nated " The Empire State of the South," a most honorable 
and fitting sobriquet. Her size, her fortunate geographical 
situation, and her vast and varied natural resources no 
doubt first suggested the title. 

From the day in that far-away year of 1733, when Gen. 
James Edward Oglethorpe planted his colony, down to 
the present day, when Georgians have controlled the 
affairs of Georgia, her public men in both State and 
Nation have been of the highest type. She has had and 
has still her full quota of distinguished orators, advocates, 
jurists, statesmen, editors, soldiers, and writers, and the 
constituencies back of them are among tiie best citizens 
of the Republic. 

In the way of national positions Georgians have filled 
every post of honor save the Presidency and Vice Presi- 
dency of the United States. In 1824 one of her most dis- 
tinguished sons, William H. Crawford, narrowly missed 
the Presidency, while in ISfiO another of her sons, Hcr- 
schell V. Johnson, was the nominee for the Vice Presi- 
dency on the ticket with Stephen A. Douglas. Eveiybody 
will remember that still another of her sons, Alexander 
Hamilton Stephens, was vice president of the Southern 
Confederacy. According to the opinion of Col. Thomas 
Hart Benton in his Thirty Years' View, in which he wrote 
of the great events of three decades, all of which he wit- 
nessed and part of which he was, Crawford would have 

[24] 



Address of Mk. Clark, of Missouri 



won the most coveted of all political prizes iuul he not 
been stricken with paralysis in the nick of time. 

The situation was this: There were four presidential 
condidates — Andrew Jackson, John Quincj^ Adams, Wil- 
liam H. Crawford, and Henry Clay — a masterful quartette, 
all claiming to belong to the Jcft'ersonian party. In the 
Electoral College they stood in the order named; but none 
received a majority, whicli fact threw the election into 
the House, where each State has 1 vote. The Constitu- 
tion provides that under such circumstances only the three 
higliest candidates go Ijefore the House. Clay, standing 
fourtii, was shut out. It is my opinion that had he gotten 
into the House he would have been elected, for he was 
then Speaker and exceedingly popular and was a prime 
favorite in New England. It will be observed that there 
were three southern or southwestern candidates and only 
one northern candidate. Clay being shut out, the south- 
westerners were much inclined toward Crawford, Clay 
being intensely jealous of Jackson, and Benton sympa- 
thizing witli Clay for two reasons — first, because of kin- 
ship by marriage; second, because of a certain bloody 
shooting scrape at Nashville, in which Thomas H. Benton 
and his brother Jesse shot Gen. Jackson almost to death. 
Just as Crawford's prospects appeared brightest he suf- 
fered a paralytic stroke, wliich put him out of the running, 
and John Quincy Adams became President. 

When 1 first came to Congress in 1893 Georgia had a 
very strong delegation in both House and Senate, as she 
has to-day. Of all that delegation Col. Livingston is the 
sole survivor. Charles Frederick Crisp was Speaker. 
Had he lived, the chances are that in him would have been 
found the available southern man for President for whom 
we have been searching so long. He was not much given 
to epigrams, and yet I heard him utter one so full of good 
sense as to deserve a place with King Solomon's Proverbs 

[25] 



Memorial Addresses : Refkesentative Griggs 

or "The Wisdom of the Ancients." Shortly alter I hegan 
my service here I was leaning against the Speaker's stand 
talking to Mr. Speaker Crisp. A vei-y dull Member was 
making a very dry speech. I asked the Speaker how that 
man broke in here. He replied: 

When you first come here and look over a new House, you 
wonder liow half of them get in; but when you have been here 
two years and have become well acquainted with the membership, 
you will discover tliat, barring a few accidents, tliey are strong 
in specialties. 

That is one of his philosophic sayings which I have 
treasured up in my mind, and it has had much influence 
upon me in judging new Members. 

p]ighteen hundred and ninety-four and 1896 were revo- 
lutionaiy years in American politics, especially in Demo- 
cratic politics. Judge Griggs came to Congress as one of 
the first fruits of that revolution. Young, robust, hand- 
some, capable, genial, graceful, enthusiastic, he was the 
type of his people and seemed destined for a long fife. A 
more amiable man never sat within these walls or lifted 
up his voice here. If he had an enemy among his fellows, 
I never heard of it. His genial manners, his kindness of 
heart, and his fine ability made him popular here, as he 
was at home. Twice he was made chairman of the Demo- 
cratic congressional campaign committee, and he died a 
member of the great Committee on Ways and Means. The 
failure of his health prevented his taking as active a part 
in the tariff hearings and the tarifl' debate as he otherwise 
would have taken; but he rendered one very valuable 
service in those hearings. Before the committee secured 
authoritj' from the House to subpoena witnesses and swear 
them, some of the volunteer witnesses spun yarns which 
would have put Munchausen himself to blush. Men who 
started with little or nothing in the manufacturing busi- 

[26] 



Address of Mk. Clark, of Missouri 



nt'ss and had become niultiniillionaires would testify with 
straight faces that they were not making anything. Many, 
indeed, deckiring that they were h)sing money every day. 
Of course their statements were preposterous and nobody 
believed them. 

The rest of us tried to trap and entangle them, and to 
extract the truth from them, but we did not make much 
headway. At last Judge Griggs succeeded in a way that 
was highly amusing. Just after one of them began, Griggs 
interrupted him, and with a face solemn as a gi'aven 
image, said: 

I want to ask you just one preliminary question — Are you 
making any money? 

His question was so sudden and unexpected that every- 
body smiled. It was considered a good joke, but the wit- 
ness was surprised into telling the truth Jjy confessing 
tiiat he was making money. Judge Griggs had struck the 
li'ad. By the time he had interrupted a dozen or so, and 
had made them state in the beginning that they were mak- 
ing money, succeeding witnesses anticipated his question 
by voluntarily stating in the very beginning that their 
business was profitable. By that simple question Judge 
GRi(i(;s rendered the country great service. 

Had he died in the spring or summer of 1909, nobody 
would have been surprised, for it was generally known 
that he was in wretched physical condition; but when he 
appeared at the convening of Congress in December, 1909, 
after the rest of the long vacation, he seemed to be in per- 
fect health, so that his death came as a clap of thunder 
out of a clear skj'. 

He has solved the great mystery of death, which, after 
all, is not so great a mystery as the mystery of life. 



[27] 



Address of Mr. Pou, of North Carolina . 

Mr. Speaker: So vast is tlic machinery of this Govern- 
ment, so perfectly constructed, that there is not even a 
moment's pause in its running when the greatest among 
us is taken hy the hand of Providence. While the new- 
turned earth is yet fresh on tlie grave of our deceased 
friend, while we yet so vividly remember his beaming face 
and recall his witty sayings, while recent copies of the 
Record still carry his name, let us pause a moment to 
exchange recollections of one who Avas loved best by those 
closest to him, whose circle of friends expanded as the 
years of his service grew, who was respected by all, who 
died leaving behind him here not one solitary enemy, but 
genuinely regretted by his coworkers in this Chamber. 

Mr. Speaker, 1 do not rise to-daj' to go through the form 
of expressing my regrets at the death of James M. Griggs 
merely because we liave a custom of holding these memo- 
rial services. I shall not indulge in extravagant expres- 
sion of praise. I know very well that down in his Georgia 
home there are hearts so broken that the whole world 
seems desolate and comfortless. But the memory of this 
man being pleasant to dwell upon, 1 have thought that this 
hour will not be spent in vain in recording our estimate 
of our deceased colleague. What is said to-day will con- 
stitute largel}^ tlie chapter in liis life of his work here — a 
chapter which, in recording tlie simple truth, may be read 
with pride by his people and his posterity. 



Address of Mr. Pou, of North Carolina 

Of course I am one of llioso who only knew James 
M. CiRiGfis as a colleague iu this Chamber, but after I 
became associated with him on the Ways aud Meaus Com- 
mittee I was brought into very close contact with him, and 
I will say right now tiiat during my life I have met few 
men with a personality so attractive or an intellect so 
bright. 

Even as a member of the minority hisiutluence was felt, 
and had the party to which he belonged been in control 
he would have been a force in making and shaping legis- 
lation. 

There was a vein of humor running througli his nature 
which he could not suppress and which made his com- 
panionship always entertaining. Being a man of large 
intellect, he believed in dealing with all things from a 
broad standpoint. His character and the working of his 
line mind were illustrated in a most striking manner dur- 
ing the hearings on the Payne bill, now the law of the land 

He believed that import duties should be lowered. I am 
sure every member of the committee will always remem- 
ber his examination of witnesses who came before the 
committee during those hearings. His ready wit, his sense 
ol' humor, ids strong common sense time and again 
relieved the tedium of the toilsome task which we were 
all trying to discharge as best we coidd. He sought to 
prove the correctness of iiis position by a series of ques- 
tions whicli at once went to the very root of the matter 
under consideration. 

I think that very few men are possessed of genuine wit. 
It is a I'are quality, anti when used as a weapon very 
dangerous. 

It can not be acquired and perhaps but little cultivated. 
Like great orators, witty men are born, not made. The 
man endowed with this rare gift should never use it unless 
he is quite sure that his use of such a keen and eft'ective 

[29] 



INIkmoriai. Addresses: Representative (Iricgs 

weapon is tempered, is controlled by the influence of a 
great heart — a heart that feels the throb of brotherly 
love — yes, a heart which is fdled with that love which 
passeth all understanding. Such a man was our deceased 
colleague. He lit no fires of hate, inspired no conflicts, 
and his gentle nature looked at things with kindly ej'es. 
There was no oilense in his remonstrance, no sting in his 
boundless sense of humor^ 

He was proud of his State and her people. Whatever 
Georgia produced was a little better than the same thing 
produced anywhere else. 

He often spoke of his State and her people and 1 know 
he was speaking the sentiment of his heart. A surgeon 
was using the knife on the breast of one of Napoleon's 
soldiers. "One inch deeper," said the soldier. " and, doc- 
tor, you will find the Emperor." If the tiirob beats of the 
heart of James M. Griggs could have been translated into 
letters thej' would have spelled the name of the great State 
which, in part, he had the honor to represent. I would 
say a few words more. The deep grief of those in the 
bosom of his home might find just a little solace if they 
could know how the tidings of his death were received by 
his colaborcrs on Capitol Hill. The death of no man could 
have called forth more sincere expressions of sorrow and 
regret. 

Mr. Speaker, these memorial exercises serve a good pur- 
pose. They are recuri-ing reminders of the uncertainty of 
life. They warn us not to forget in the daily conflicts in 
which we are all engaged; in party struggles for success; 
in the clash of ambitions; in the perpetual struggle for 
place and power that, after all, in this whole world there 
is nothing great but God. 



[30] 



Address of Mh. Por, of North Carolina 

Those who are strong in strife luive fouglit in vain 
unless the motive heliind that strife he absolute purity of 
pui'pose. 

Tlie spirits of just men made perfect on liigli — tlie army of 
martyrs that stand by tlie tlirone and gaze in tlie face lliat malies 
glorious their own know this surely at least. 

Not one of lis measures up to the standard of a correct 
life. So it is with you, Mr. Speaker, so it is with me. so 
was it with our friend. What is the end of it all? Unless 
there exists an ecjuity in the laws of (lod upon which frail, 
weak humanity can cast itself, one is shocked to contem- 
plate the fate of the race of man. 

This equity which was proclaimed hy the Man of Galilee 
is the world's best hope. The day will come when before 
its mighty influence armies will dissolve and navies disap- 
pear, and in that day war between nations will be but a 
horrible memory of the long ago. 

Surely, a man so good as our dead friend, with so much 
of the milk of human kindness in his heart, so honest and 
honorable, did not fall outside the limits of this saving 
influence destined one day to subdue the world. 



[31] 



Address oi- Mr. Hughes, of Georgia 

Mr. Speaker: In the great scheme of life, created by an 
Ahiiightj' God, in whicli the idols of to-day are but mem- 
ories of to-morrow, and wliere the to-morrows are so 
soon to-days and to-days yesterdays, it is often our lot 
to mark the passing of a friend and to acknowledge our 
great loss in his death by expressions of the love and 
admiration that we bore for him while living. To-day 
these expressions are to memorialize the life of the late 
Hon. James Mathe\vs Griggs, of Georgia. His lile is not 
only a part of Georgia, but of this I'nion. 

After receiving a common-school education he was 
graduated from the Pcabody Normal College, at Nash- 
ville, Tenn., at the age of 20 years. In 1883, three years 
after his graduation, he was admitted to the bar of his 
State and soon began the practice of law, occupying part 
of Iiis time with journalistic work. After seven years 
in tiie general practice of law he was elected to the office 
of prosecuting attorney for the Pataula judicial circuit, 
thus beginning his official career as a representative of 
the people, which lasted until his death. In 1893 he 
resigned this office to assume the duties of judge of the 
same circuit, and in 1896 was elected to Congress, after 
resigning the judgeship, where he remained as long as 
he lived. 

During liis entire life he was ever devoted to duty and 
an untiring worker. His ability is shown by his many 
accomplisiiments. As solicitor-general he proved to be 
one of the most powerful prosecuting attorneys his State 
has ever known, and whenever he entered a case he threw 



[32] 



Address of Mr. Highes, of Georgia 



the whole power of his brilliant intellect into it with a 
telling force, which was so often irresistible. His fair- 
ness as a prosecutor was of such a character that a pris- 
oner could find no better friend Uuin he if innocent, nor 
no worse enemy if guilty. He stood for a strict enforce- 
ment of the law and a fair administration of justice. 

As a judge he was preeminently qualified, being well 
versed in the law, entirely impartial, and possessed an 
indefatigable energy. His wide knowledge of the intri- 
cacies of the law enabled him to meet any exigencj', his 
impartiality to meet it fairly, and his energy to meet it 
promptly. He served in this otfice until his resignation, 
and was never opposed for reelection. 

But it was neither as lawyer nor judge that I knew and 
loved him so well. My acquaintance with him was only 
casual before I began ^my service here, and it was not until 
then that I came to appreciate the real worth of the man. 
His great ability, which had won for him such an enviable 
reputation as lawyer and jurist, soon placed him among 
the leaders of this body. His fairness and impartiality 
stood him in good stead here, and his friends were not 
limited to the Members this side of the center isle, but 
his popularity extended across the bounds of party lines, 
and he numbered many of his political t)pponents as his 
personal friends. He was essentially a big man, and not 
given to the small ways of a narrow mind. He could at 
once grasp the great national problems that come so con- 
stantly before this body, and exercise a masterly skill in 
his treatment of them. He was devoted to his duty and 
constantly watchful of the interest of his State and dis- 
trict, delighting to give his personal attention to the 
smallest want of his most humble constituent. His promi- 
nent committee and party appointments are but testi- 
monials of his unusual worth as a legislator. His high 
place in the councils of his party and his universal 



7.3502°— 11 3 [33] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Griggs 

popularity in tlie House made it possible for him to 
accomplisli great good for liis State and district, as well 
as render valuable service to the Nation. 

From the time I came into the House my desk was next 
to his, and he made a most pleasing desk mate. He was 
po.ssessed of one of the most pleasing, magnetic personali- 
ties that I have ever known, and his disposition was fault- 
less. I never saw him in any mood except the hap- 
piest, and his good humor seemed always present. He 
possessed the three qualifications which are necessary to 
a perfect friendship — charity, gratitude, and mental 
power, equal to any emergency. And this was the Jim 
Griggs that I knew so well; the kind, big-hearted, brainy 
Jim, who was ever ready to do a kindness and always 
anxious to return a favor. 

His home life was everything that.could be wished, and 
marked by his family's great devotion to him. He was a 
most lovable man, and I feel a distinct personal loss in 
his going. His death was peculiarly sad, coming when 
it did, he having barely crossed the meridian of manhood 
and when the star of his possibilities was just in its 
ascendancy, rising to noiiler and greater achievements. 

In his death the Nation has lost an able officer; his 
State and district, an earnest advocate; and his faniih% 
the greatest losers of all, a loving luisband and noble 
father. 



[34i 



Address of Mr. Ellerbe, of Soith Carolina 

Mr. Speaker: It shall not be my part to-day to dwell 
upon the life and work of the late James M. Griggs. 

I come but as a friend to pay a loving tribute to the man 
and not the Member. Others will do that far better than I. 

To live in hearts we leave behind 
Is not to die. 

It seems, Mr. Speaker, as if it were yesterday that my 
friend was seated in this Hall. I can almost hear the echo 
of his cheerful greeting and see the pleasant smile of wel- 
come witJi which he always met me. 

If James M. (Iriggs had a fault it was surplus of kind- 
ness. This disposition was innate. The Almighty created 
him with a heart so full of generous impulses that it drew 
to him friends as the needle is drawn to the pole. He left 
a memory that is sweet, and enlightens and cheers those 
friends as the sun brightens and cheers all that it touches. 

\o man in the House had more of those qualities which 
bind men together, which draw the love and fidelity of 
those who are kindred spirits. It was through these quali- 
ties that Griggs did his best work for his district. It was 
always a privilege to serve him, because his colleagues 
felt sure of appreciation of any favor done for him and 
sure that in return he would always give them his best 
service. 

He died at his post. The commission with which the 
confidence of his constituents had invested him still 

[351 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Grku.s 

clothed him with authority when he was called hence so 
suddenly. 

The mystery of his taking off we can not fathom. These 
losses arc the most bitter and yet the most useful lesson 
that we can learn. 

The friend of oiu- soul is taken suddenly in the midst 
of health and strength and hope. It is an arrow which 
strikes very near our own hearts. It is a voice of warning 
crying " Be ye also ready." 

As life runs on the road grows strange 
Willi faces new — and near the end 

The milestones into headstones change 
'Neath every stone — a friend. 

When on the last day that Mr. (Iriogs spent in Washing- 
ton we sat together at luncheon, talking of the future and 
the work that we were planning to do before the session 
ended, 1 little dreamed that 1 would sec his face no more, 
and that never again would we meet in the fellowship 
which had been so pleasant a part of my life here. 

Tlie deceased was not without faults. No doubt, Mr. 
Speaker, that he, like many others, when he came before 
the people had to pass through an ordeal of adverse criti- 
cism and perhaps denunciation. In these days no sooner 
docs a man become a candidate for an official position 
than the arsenal of calumny is ransacked for tlie most 
poisonous of arrows to wound, if not destroy, and he 
perhaps did not escape that ordeal; yet I appeal to those 
who knew him whether in all Iiis official career a taint of 
susjiicion ever rested upon tlie integrity of his character. 

His influence and wonderful personality will be missed 
from the councils of his country. 

But death is the one tiling inevitable. It can neither be 
bribed witii gold nor bewitched bv beautv. 



[36] 



Address of Mr. Ellerbe, of Soith Carolina. 

It is implacable, impartial, without remorse. It snatches 
the rosy bal)e from tlic mother's arms, outstrips the fleet- 
ness of youth, and claims the strong man for its own. And 
so it comes to pass that in every household there is a 
vacant chair and at every step we stumble over the grave 
of a loved one. 

It is only left us to live so that when our summons 
comes we will leave behind us friends whose sorrow will 
be real and a place which no other can fill, as did James 
M. Griggs. 



[37] 



Address of Mr. Robinson, oi Arkansas 

Mr. Speaker: James Mathews Grioos, in whose mem- 
ory this service is held by his colleagues and friends, was 
a native of Georgia, having been born at Lagrange March 
29, 1861. Like many otlier men who have served their 
country efliciently, his education was begun in the public 
schools. He graduated from the Peabody Normal Col- 
lege, at Nashville, Tenn., in 1881, and for two years was 
engaged in teaching school and studying law. In 1883 he 
was admitted to the bar and soon afterwards began the 
practice of law. His political career began in 1888, when 
he was elected solicitor general of his judicial circuit. 
He was reelected in 1892, but resigned the following year. 
Shortly afterwards he was appointed judge of the same 
circuit, and was twice reelected. 

In 1890 he resigned the otlice of judge and was elected 
to Congress, where he continued in service until his death 
on the 5th day of January, 1910. Mr. Griggs was chair- 
man of the Democratic congressional campaign commit- 
tee in 1904 and 1906, and his management of the cam- 
paigns in those years demonstrated his grasp of national 
political issues. 

Few men of his age have had a more varied political 
experience. There are some features of his career that 
are common to the lives of many public men. The 
foundations of his education were laid in the public 
schools of his native State, and his entrance upon a pro- 
fessional and political career was preceded by a valuable 



[38] 



Address of Mr. Robinson, of Arkansas 

training acquired in teaching school. How many of the 
best men in public life began their careers as school- 
teachers. 

No man who has served in Congress during recent years 
has enjoyed more completely the confidence of his col- 
leagues and associates than Mr. Griggs. His personal 
popularity was almost universal. Possessed of strong 
mental faculties, he was liberal in his views, charitable 
toward opposition, and forceful in his expressions. A 
lovable man, devoted to his family, and faithful to his 
friends. 

In studying his character we recognize that those traits 
which made him universally popular were his spirit of 
good fellowship and loyalty in his friendships. He was 
not only courteous and genial to his intimate friends, but 
uniformly considerate toward new Members. 

The new Member of Congress is a peculiar, interesting, 
and distinctive specie. As a rule, when he enters upon 
the duties of his olTice he is charged with a sense of 
responsibility and depressed by a consciousness of ineffi- 
ciency. The manner in which some of the older and 
experienced Members uniformly treat and regard new 
Members has not often been the subject of frank com- 
ment. There is a poison which blights the strongest soul 
and withers the fairest aspirations. It is not opposition, 
not denunciation, but humiliation. 

When the new Member first arrives in Washington to 
engage in his congressional duties he finds himself con- 
fronted with countless dilliculties, innumerable details of 
routine duties which as the jears go by gradually become 
familiar to him, but which at iirst are always embarrass- 
ing and sometimes overwhelming. Lawyers skillful in 
the advocacj' of causes before juries and courts find them- 
selves impotent before committees of Congress. Men 
who have succeeded in business affairs elsewhere experi- 



[39] 



Me:morial Addresses: Representative Griggs 

ence bitter disappointment in the signal and utter failures 
which seem to attend their sincerest efforts here. I think 
a congressional career is somewhat analogous to college 
life. The new Member of Congress occupies a similar 
relation to that of the freshman. The process of hazing 
through which he is carried is not very different from the 
experience of the student; its result is often the same — 
humiliation. How many men of recognized ability, 
inspired by a sincere purpose to discharge their duties 
faithfully and efficiently, who expect prompt recognition 
here of their good intentions and their well-meant efforts, 
who secretly expect to attain prominence, sink to that 
level of mediocrity wliicli, while it gives immunity from 
bitter censure, also consigns many a proud soul to obscu- 
rity. The attitude of experienced Congressmen toward 
the new Member is sometimes if not usually caused by 
indifference, but the new Member frequently attributes 
it to contempt. They pass him Ijy with formal recogni- 
tion. His loftiest flights of oratory are sneered at as 
grandiloquent. With a certainty that is unfailing he will 
finally find his proper level, receive deserved recognition, 
and, as a rule, accept the final judgment of his colleagues 
as to his ability and worth without complaint. Yet every 
Member was once a new man and can recall with pleas- 
ure the old Members who received him kindly and treated 
him with great consideration. • 

Prompted by a natural spirit of fellowship and good 
nature, James M. Griggs always had a word of encourage- 
ment and assistance to the new Member. He once said 
to me that the happiest feature of his service here was 
experienced in aiding new Members. It was this more 
than anything else, in my judgment, that made him per- 
manently popular. 

After all, tliis is a great forum, not a training school. 
Weaklings can not long survive hei'e. It is pleasant to 

[40] 



Address of Mr. Robinson, of Arkansas 

recall that oui' departed friend softened the asperities 
and tempered the adversities of the untried and the 
aspiring among his associates. The successful and the 
renowned always have a fair share of the approval and 
the commendation of their fellows. But he who has 
not triumphed, but is beginning a great struggle, never 
forgets a strong hand lent in kindly aid or a good woi'd 
spoken to cheer. 

As one who enjoyed an intimate friendship with Mr. 
Griggs, I learned to love him for his generosity and his 
loyalty. His career was comparatively brief, yet during 
the less than 50 years tliat he lived he witnessed many 
momentous military and political events. He was born 
just at the beginning of the civil war. His child ears 
heard the measured tread of armies dashing to conflict. 
His youthful eyes gazed in astonishment on neglected 
fields and desolated homes. His early years were endiar- 
rassed by lack of opportunities common to every southern 
community during the period of his youth, yet he acquired 
a good education and bore an honorable part in the 
restoration of the South. He lived long enough to see the 
country reunited and the sun of a new glory shining in 
noonday splendor on the fields and homes of Georgia and 
of all the South. He was a just judge, an efTicient legis- 
lator, a good citizen, and a faithful friend. 



[41] 



Address of Mr. Edwards, of (Ieorgia 

Mr. Speaker: In his ■d\)\v and eloquent memorial ad- 
dress delivered in the House on April 9, 1910, eulogizing 
his friend, the late Judge De Armond, the Hon. Champ 
Clark, among other things, said: 

Tlie high places to wliich Phelps, Bland, and De Armond rose in 
both the House and the country is another illustration of the value 
of long service — value not only to themselves, but to their con- 
stituencies and to the entire Republic. 

What he said of these gentlemen is true also of Judge 
James M. Griggs, to whose memory we pay these tributes 
of respect to-day, for he, too, measured up to and exceeded 
the expectations of liis loyal constituency, and was per- 
mitted to remain here for many years to serve the country, 
increasing all the while in his usefulness, until death 
claimed him. In the same speech referred to above the 
Hon. Champ Clark said further: 

Men should not he sent hither simply to gratify their own per- 
sonal ambitions, but because they can be of service, and having 
proved that they are of service wisdom dictates that they should 
be kept here so long as they continue to lie of service; and it may 
be confidently asserted that the value of the services of a man of 
capacity, character, industry, and good habits- increase in exact 
proportion to his length of service. New England understands 
this thoroughly. So do the cities of Philadelpliia and Pittsburg. 
When a Representative from any of those places demonstrates his 
fitness here he is retained until he retires, dies, or is promoted. 
Five times in succession l^liiladelphia has had the distinguished 

[421 



Address of Mr. Edwards, of Georgia 

honor of furnishing the " fatlicr of the House " — Kellcy, Randall, 
O'Neill, Harnier, and Bingham. Should Gen. Bingham, the present 
" father of the House," for any reason cease to be a Member, the 
title of " father of the House " would pass to still another Pennsyl- 
vanian, the Hon. John Dalzell. These facts should furnish much 
food for thoughl to every constituency in the land. 

The late Judge (Iriggs represented a eonstituencj' that 
seemed to recognize the force of what Mr. Clark said, and 
hence kept him here continuously from the Fifty-fifth to 
the Sixty-first Congres.s, he heing a Member of this Con- 
gress at tile time of his death, and I believe it can be safely 
stated that Judge Griggs continued to grow in usefulness 
to his constituency and to the Republic with each suc- 
ceeding Congress. 

Hon. James Mathews Griggs was born at Lagrange, Ga., 
on March 29, 1861. He was a lawyer by profession, and 
at one time was engaged in the newspaper business. He 
entered politics early in life, having been elected as 
solicitor general of the Pataula judicial circuit in 1888, 
in whicii he demonstrated his abilities as a prosecuting 
attorney so well that he was reelected in 1892. He 
resigned this position in 1893 to accept the appointment 
tendered to him to be judge of the same circuit. He made 
a splendid judge, and was elected to that position twice 
without opposition. He resigned the judgeship in 1896 
to make the race for Congress, and was elected to the 
Fifty-fifth, Fifty-sixth, Fifty-seventh, Fifty-eighth, Fifty- 
ninth, Sixtieth, and Sixty-first Congresses, and was serv- 
ing as a distinguisiied Member of tills, the Sixty-first, Con- 
gress at the time of his death. The people had confidence 
in him. He was a great man, and merited their confidence 
and love. In every position of trust and honor to which 
the people elected him, he jiroved wortliy of their trust, 
and dignified the positions with his splendid ability and 
faithful service. 



[43] 



Memorial Addri;ssi;s : l>i:i'Hi-;sENTATivr f'lHK.c.s 

A deep gloom was cast over- the entire membership of 
the House and Senate when the news of his death, which 
occurred at his home at Dawsrtn, (la., on January 5, 1910, 
was flaslied to ^Yashington over the wires. As a member 
of the great Ways and Means Committee of the House, the 
most important committee of the House, Judge Griggs had 
worked ven' hard while the tariff bill was being framed 
and passed in the extra session of this Congress, and 
became somewhat run down in health and strength. 

He returned to Washington last December, however, at 
the opening of the present session, and seemed well and 
strong again. He left here on December 17 for his home, 
where he spent the holidays, and was at home at the time 
of his death. His sudden death was a great shock and a 
sad blow to his friends and those who knew iiim. The 
Washington Post, in speaking of his death, said: 

Universal sorrow was expressed by Mr. Griggs's colleagues in 
the House of lU'presentatives — both Democrats and Republicans — 
to-day, after they had read of his sudden death at his home in 
Georgia. 

The same paper stated: 

Representative Champ Clark, of Missouri, the minority leader, 
voiced his deep personal sorrow and declared that Mr. Griggs was 
a brilliant and hard-working Member, who would be mourned by 
all who knew him and greatly missed in the councils of the House. 

Mr. Speaker, when Judge Griggs died the Nation lost a 
great man and the pai'ty lost a great Democrat. He was 
as big hearted and generous a man as I have ever known. 
He had the gift of making and retaining friends, and he 
had as many warm personal friends in Georgia as any 
man of his time. There is no doubt in my mind that if 
he had been spared a few more years his ambition to be 
governor of Georgia would have been gratified. 



[44] 



Address of Mr. Edwards, of Georgia 

I had heard and read much about him, but it was not 
my pleasure to know him personally until after I was 
elected to Congress. He did me a kindness before I knew 
him which I shall never forget, and which I shall appre- 
ciate as long as I live. Shortly after my election to the 
Sixtieth Congress a committee of insolent negroes in an 
insulting way demanded of me a private conference, 
which I declined. It was thought by some who were look- 
ing for my political downfall that they saw in the incident 
an opportunity to crush me politically, and consequently 
undertook to work an issue out of it. Sharp criticisms 
were fired at me by a few for my failure to meet this negro 
committee. I was young and it was among my first polit- 
ical experiences. My friends seemed a bit slow at first 
to rally to me, and the fire kept up. 

As soon as Judge (iRiG(;s sa\\' an account of the affair, he 
sent me a long telegram telling me I was right and to 
" stand to my guns," giving me cheer in my fight and nerv- 
ing me for the fray. God knows I appreciated that tele- 
gram, and only death will close my memory of his thought- 
fulness and kindness to me at that time, which helped me 
to win out before the people. On coming to Washington 
I met him. Again he was thoughtful and kind and aided 
me in every way he could in getting onto my work as a 
Member of the House. We became fast friends. In his 
death I lost one of my best friends, and I was grieved to 
get the sad news of his dealii. 

If a friend, he was as loyal and as " true blue " as friend 
could be. Nothing was too good for his friends and noth- 
ing was too great a service for him to do to oblige his 
friends. 

The high esteem in which he was held by his constit- 
uents was attested by the honors they conferred upon him 
by electing him to high ofiices of honor and trust. The 
high esteem in which he was held here in Washington was 

[45] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Griggs 

attested in the fact that he was given promotion after 
promotion, serving upon important committees all the 
way up to that of the Ways and Means Committee of the 
House, on which last-named committee he rendered great 
service to his party and the country in liis fight for a 
downward revision of the tariff to a revenue basis and in 
his fight against the present tariff law. The more Ids 
fellows knew of him the more they liked him and the 
more they were impressed with his abilitj^ and worth as 
a statesman. He served twice as the cliairman of the 
national Democratic congressional campaign committee, 
a great and merited honor, in which position he rendered 
valuable service to the Democratic Party. 

Little did 1 expect when I last saw my friend. Judge 
Griggs, that he would be so soon called to his reward in 
the great beyond. I saw him as he left the House on the 
last day he was here preparing to go home to his wife, 
children, and loved ones for the holiday's. He seemed full 
of life and gave promise of many more years among us. 
But this " marked man among men " was even then 
marked for tiie grave, full of happy anticipations of his 
holiday visit to his home and iiis loved ones, and lie knew 
not that death was so near at hand. So it is with us all — 
we just go on preparing to live and take little thought of 
the final day. As the vacant seats here arc marked with 
crape and a floral design, we are all reminded that another 
one of our fellows has been called hence. We mourn his 
loss and wonder, " Who next? " In the siiort time I have 
been here I have seen many seats draped in this House; 
and I never see the vacant chair, the crape, and the flowers 
that I do not ask the good God to let me so live that when 
His summons to me shall come, if it is my lot to be the next, 
that I may be ready and prepared to go. No words that 
we can utter here will benefit or changes matters for our 
friends who have gone before. 

[46] 



Address of Mr. Edwards, of Georgia 

Tlio record has been made up, and tlie reward is accord- 
ing to the life liiat lias been lived. Judge CiRIGGS was a 
Christian and a member of the Baptist Church. He was 
a devoted husband and a kind and loving father. He was 
devotedly attached to his family and they to him, and his 
death to them was a grief which only experience in the 
loss of our own loved ones can fit us to feel or describe. 

A monument is being builded by his friends to the 
memory of the late Judge (Wuggs in the district which he 
served so long and so well. This is a mark of esteem, 
and it is generous and right for his constituents to so 
honor the memory of this good man, who served them 
with such signal ability. But he built a monument for 
iiimself which will be more enduring than a tablet of 
bronze or a shaft of marble, and that is a monument that 
will live into the eternities; he builded it for himself and 
left it as his monument — a good name and a good 
character. 

The Bible tells us that a good name is rather to be 
chosen than great riches. Our dead friend had chosen 
and made for himself " a good name," which will live in 
the historj' of this country forever. 

It is a sad and unfortunate experience in the career of 
most public men that there are those who are ever ready 
to condemn and criticize. A good name is a priceless 
possession, and to a man of piu'e, noble character there 
is nothing dearer, nor can such a character be builded 
in a day. If men here were measined by what they are 
and judged by their record as it really is, instead of too 
often being misrepresented and misunderstood, there 
would unquestionably be far more pleasure in serving 
our country here. Through the weapon of innuendo and 
misrepresentation it is possible for "character sharks," 
and the world is full of them, to literally blast the repu- 
tation of a public man who has been faithful and earnest 



[47] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Griggs 

in liis service to his people and the country in less time 
than it takes to tell the story of it after the dastardly 
deed has been committed. No pain is half so keen as 
that experienced by an honest man whose life and pur- 
poses are pure as that experienced by him when his 
motives are impugned, and yet it is the unl'ortunate lot 
of almost every man who holds public office in this coun- 
try. Whj' should it be thus? Why not do unto others 
as we would have others do unto us? If the world was 
half as ready to give credit where credit is due as it is 
to pick flaws and find faults, there would be far more 
happiness abroad in the land. 

I am of the opinion that no man, unless he is a God- 
fearing man, should be elevated into any office of trust 
and honor by the people; and that when such a man has 
been found and placed in office that the good people ought 
to rise up in their might and rebuke those who would 
tear down the good name of that faithful servant. Right 
prevails always, but sometimes not until great injui-y has 
been done. God rules, and He never forsakes his own. 
He has prospered this country because we are a God- 
fearing people, and sad will be the day for us when we 
drift awaj' from God and His teachings. God needs men 
in His cause, and the country needs and should have 
godlj' men in every position, from the lowest to the 
highest. 

Judge Griggs was a good man, and always stood for 
what was right. He was a man of strong convictions, 
and he had the courage of his convictions. He has left 
his impress upon the laws and history of this land and 
has left behind him an envial)le reputation. 

He was a great lawyer, a great judge, a scholar, and 
a statesman. He loved his State, and the people of that 
State loved and will miss him. He loved and served his 
country and his countrymen loved and honored him, and 
he will be sadly missed in the councils of the Nation. 



[48] 



Address of Mr. Goulden, of New York 

Mr. Speaker : We have met to-day to honor the memory 
of our late associate, James M. Griggs, of Georgia, who 
died January 4, 1910. It was my privilege to serve with 
him for seven years, and as our seats were close together 
I saw mucli of him. At the opening of the Fifty-eighth 
Congress he was one of the first to extend the hand of 
welcome to the stranger. He was ever willing to aid a 
new Memher in the discharge of his duties. I recall 
many valuable suggestions that enabled me to avoid pit- 
falls that lay in my path, and that would have retarded 
the modest achievements with which I have been cred- 
ited. My heartfelt thanks are due to our late beloved col- 
league whose life and deeds we commemorate to-day. 
He was in the prime of his manhood, and, until the 
disease that finally took him from us, was one of the 
most rugged and healthy Members of this body. 

His life, one of usefulness to his State and Nation, 
should have enabled him to pass man's allotted time of 
three score and ten on earth. 

His sphere of duty, like that of all industrious mem- 
bers of legislative organizations, was growing wider and 
stronger year by year in tiiis body. While a partisan in 
politics, he possessed the courage of his convictions, as 
demonstrated by his vote and voice on the floor of the 
House of Representatives on more than one occasion. 
He stood for principle, and never bent the truculent 
knee to expediency. His acts as a Member during his 
long service here demonstrate his character as a states- 

73502°— 11 4 [49] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Griggs 

man. As a member of the great Committee on Ways and 
Means he was always in accord witli his party. His deter- 
mined opposition to a high protective tarifl" and in favor 
of one for revenue only met with the hearty approval of 
his partj' associates and won the respect of his political 
opponents on the committee. 

His genial personality, his engaging manners, and his 
bright, witty conversation made him one of the most 
popular men in Washington. Well do I recall in my 
early dajs in Congress of our colleague being interested 
in a matter of considerable importance to his section in 
the way of fast mail-service soliciting help to pass the 
measure, of hearing Members on both sides of this Cham- 
ber saying: "Yes; I will support it, because Jim Griggs 
wants it." 

In my own case, on account of a similar measure being 
before a committee of which I was a member, and to 
which I was opposed, when I explained the matter he 
promptly replied with a smile, "You arc right, and I 
would not ask you to favor my proposition under the 
circumstances." If possible, he was a better friend after 
than before that occurrence. This showed one of the 
admirable traits in tlic character of our late colleague. 

His cheerful disposition and friendly manner did not 
leave him even when suffering from the pains of the illness 
that finally ended his life. It was always with a pleasant 
smile and a hearty "Good morning" that he met his 
friends. His untimely death is seriously felt by his dear 
ones, to whom he was devoted; by his many friends and 
by his former associates, who loved and admired the 
manly, unselfish character of their colleague. 

With deep affection for the memoiy of our departed 
brother I place this brief, simple tribute of respect to 
the late James M. Griggs, with the hope that his life may 
prove a blessing to his friends. 

[50] 



t 



Address of Mr. Brantley, of Georgia 

Mr. Speaker: A nicrciful Providence decreed that the 
last dread summons to our late colleague, James Mathews 
Griggs, should find him resting in the bosom of his family 
in his own home, in the little city of Dawson, Ga. 

If he was expecting the summons, no one knew it hut 
himself, for to all others it came not only without warn- 
ing, hut with fearful and dreadful suddenness, and found 
them unprepared. That day in last January on which 
he lay down for a short rest was no more calm and 
peaceful than was the gentle sleep that seemed at once 
to come to him. He lay down expecting to arise from 
a refreshing slumber, with the joy of life thereby renewed, 
hut the refreshment that came was that of life eternal, 
for life ended as he slept. As the twilight quietly and 
almost imperceptibly shades into the darkness, so did 
his sleep of life pass away into the sleep of death. So 
gentle was the touch of the messenger. Death, that he 
had come and gone before those who watched knew that 
he was near. Whatever of storm and tempest our 
beloved colleague may have encountered in life, thej' 
were forgotten and atoned for in the beautiful quiet and 
peace of tiie end that was vouchsafed to him. 

It was his privilege in his last glimpse of life to look 
upon the scenes, the faces, and the things that he held 
most dear, for when the ciu'lain of life went down for- 
ever for him it was these faces and these scenes that last 
disappeared from view. 

[51] 



Mi:m()kiai> Addhesses: Representative (iRicgs 

No truer friends or more loyal hearts or more sincere 
mourners ever gathered around the bier of a departed 
one to sing the last songs and to utter the last prayers than 
assembled in the church at Dawson on the 7tli day of last 
January to pay the last tribute of love to all that was 
mortal of dear Jim Griggs. They were his neighbors, 
and tliey knew and loved him. They were his real 
friends, the ones who had aided and encouraged and ever 
puslied him upward and upward. His success was their 
success and his triumph was their triumph. They were 
proud of his achievements, but it was a pride born of 
love, for his heart was theirs and their hearts were his. 
They loved the man, and they mourned his death. 

Grief and sorrow were everywhere, and well might they 
be, for there had been stricken down in the zenith of his 
power and usefulness a distinguished citizen and a trusted 
and tried friend. The mourners were not all from Daw- 
son. They were there from many places, for the love 
for him wlio lay dead was not local only. It extended 
throughout his district, and wherever he was known, and 
from far and near came liruised and aching hearts to 
swell the woe of grief that was universal. Great as 
were the deeds in life of him for whom they mourned, 
we might well ask if there was not in the liour of his 
death the greatest of all liis achievements. Surely a life 
has been worth the living when its ending could provoke 
so much of sorrow and of mourning as were here seen. 
Words were not needed, extravagant eulogies were 
unnecessary to point the feeling that swelled each heart 
present almost to the bursting point. There could be no 
greater tribute to worth and real manhood, and no 
grander demonstration of loving confidence than this 
great concourse of people, silent and subdued, paying 
tributes of honor and love, by their presence, to one who 



[52] 



Address of Mr. Brantley, of (Ieokc.ia 

never more would smile upon them and who no more 
could serve or aid or love. 

What manner of man was this, so much loved by his 
neighbors, and in whose memory this House has met 
to-day? The answer is upon the tongue of every one 
who here served with him. He was a manly man; he 
was a man who loved his fellow-man, and by his fellow- 
man was loved in tiu'n. In this simple statement is told 
the secret of his success. The same qualities that brought 
him the confidence and esteem and trust of those who 
sent him here, gave him that same confidence and esteem 
from those with whom he served here. 

A great divine once said that God and one man might 
constitute some religions, but that to constitute the Chris- 
tian religion God and at least two men were required, 
and for the reason that Christianity is the service of 
humanity. God is served by serving His creatures, and 
in no other way can we really and truly serve Him. We 
can not by taking thought discover anything that poor 
finite man can do to add to the greatness, the glory, or 
the power of the Almightj'. We can be Christians and 
we can glorify His name only by loving and serving our 
fellow-men. 

Truly the poet wrote that the proper study of mankind 
is man. This world in which we live has beauty and 
grandeur of sea and mountain, of hill and valley and 
river. It has unaccountable riches of stone and wood and 
metal. Its countless treasures of forest and mine and of 
art are everywhere. It is a beautiful world, filled with 
beautiful things of sight and sound and touch; but all 
these things are as dross compared with the humanity 
that peoples it. Man is the noblest, as he is the greatest, 
work of God, and he who lives but to feast ui)on and 
hoard the inanimate riches of the earth, with no thought 
or care for mankind, does not know life and is a stranger 



[53] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Griggs 

to the teachings of tlie Ahnighty. Our dear friend who 
has gone from among us knew this great lesson of life. 
Whether his knowledge came to him by intuition or 
whether he learned it through his own observation be- 
comes immaterial. That he knew it and measured his 
conduct by it his life reveals. 

The great thought of his life was humanity, and so it 
was that he had a ready smile, a cheerful word, and an 
extended hand for all who approached him. His mis- 
sion was to scatter sunshine and to plant seeds of kind- 
ness. The gift of wit and jest was his to a large degree, 
but his jest was ever a merry one and left no sting behind. 
His flow of humor dispelled the clouds of care wherever 
it went, and as he moved about from place to place and 
from man to man he banished gloom and despair and 
made light the hearts that were heavy. Men loved him 
because he was always glad. His joy was the joy of 
living. 

He first took his seat as a Member of the House on March 
15, 1897, at the extra session of the Fifty-fifth Congress, 
the session called to enact the Dingley tarifli' law, and from 
that day until death claimed him on the 5th day of last 
Januarj', in the forty-ninth year of liis life, he was con- 
tinuously a Member of this body. During that period, cov- 
ering almost 13 full years of active service, he personally 
met and knew practically every Member who served with 
him here. Genial and whole-souled, full of the love of 
humanity, and craving companionship, it was as natural 
for him to know his associates here as it was natural for 
him to know and be in touch with the people he served. 
Few men have ever had a place in this Chamber who 
enjoyed to a greater degree than he did tiie confidence, 
the friendship, and the personal interest of the entire 
membership. The tributes paid him to-day are the sincere 
outpourings of the hearts that truly mourn his absence. 

[54] 



Address of Mr. Brantley, of Georgia 

Cheerful and light hearted as he always seemed to be. 
Judge Griggs was no idler in the serious work of life, as the 
achievements to his credit so well show. Looking back 
upon the short span of life allotted to him, we find a record 
of which any man could well be proud. Fortune, nor 
family, nor influence gave him the proud position that 
was his, but he claimed and won it through sheer force of 
ability and unwearying cnerg}-. The great distance that 
lay between his humble start and the goal he finally 
reached would have dismayed a less stout heart, but fail- 
ure formed no part of the program he mapped out for 
himself, and, undiscouraged by his surroundings and with 
unfailing hope, he pursued adversity until adversitj' fled. 
In the great school of experience he learned to master 
and overcome each difliculty that he encountered, until 
at last honors were his for the asking, and fame and dis- 
tinction and acknowledged success became his just 
portion. 

He successively filled the otfice of prosecuting attorney 
and circuit court judge, and liis record was such that the 
people of the second congressional district of Georgia gave 
to him seven successive terms in Congress, and only 
stopped because he died. That their trust in him was 
fully justified, those of us who knew him here can well 
attest. 

From that day during his first term when he arose in* 
the House to protest against the frequencj' with which the 
South was being received back into the Union, protesting 
that one time was enough and that the South was in the 
Union to stay, and as loyal as any other section, his stand- 
ing in the House was secure. In that same speech he gave 
a fleeting glimpse of the humor that was ever in him when 
he defined the Mason and Dixon line as the line separating 
hot bread from cold. 



[55] 



Memorial Addresses: Representahvi: (Ikkigs 

His long and arduous service here on the Post-Office and 
Post-Roads Committee will ever mark the fidelity with 
which he worked. The rural delivery of the mails enlisted 
from the start his active support, and he lived to see 
during his stay here the appropriation lor this service 
grow from $40,000 per year to almost as many million 
dollars per 3'ear. 

Faithful, diligent, and active, the time came when he 
was called to a place on the Ways and Means Committee. 
He took an active part in tlic liearings before this com- 
mittee preceding the enactment of the present tariff' law, 
and Republicans and Democrats alike agree that in tlie 
service there and later in the House, wlien the tariff bill 
was on its passage, lie was moved and actuated by loyal 
devotion to his conception of the Democratic faith and 
to the interests of tlie section of the country in which lie 
lived. The needle was never truer to the pole than was 
he to the people who trusted him, or than he was to the 
political party whose commission he lield. His partisan- 
ship, however, was not of the narrow and bigoted kind, 
for he was broad minded and patriotic enougli to know 
that " he serves his party best who serves his country 
best." 

It was his broad statesmanship and his intimate knowl- 
edge of men tliat caused him upon two occasions — in 1902 
and in 1906 — to be placed at the head of the Democratic 
congressional campaign committee, an honor worthily 
bestowed and well deserved, as the results of his admin- 
istration demonstrated. His place here was a high one, 
and it, like all others he ever held, was of his own mak- 
ing. He was the architect of his own fortune, and as lie 
builded only in the hearts of men, he was a great archi- 
tect and a master builder, for none knew belter than he 
the real heart of the true man. 



[56] 



Address of Mr. Brantley, of Georgia 

Words fail us when \vc allcmpt to pay to him the 
tribute that love suggests and that his worth demands, 
but we know that his name and his fame are secure not 
alone with us, but with all who knew him, even though 
we spoke no word to-day; and we know also that his 
deeds are spread upon the imperishable records of our 
common coimlr}', and will live long after we, too, have 
followed in the way that he has led. 

When the present, the Sixty-first, Congress convened 
tliere were present 32 Members of the House who came 
first to the Fiftj-fifth Congress, the Congress of which 
Judge (jRiGGS was first a Member, and of this 32 it so 
chances that 16 of them were Democrats and 16 Repub- 
licans. It is somewhat remarkable that this even division 
sliould have existed, but it serves to emphasize the fact 
that no division to-day exists in the purpose for which 
we have met, for in the loving esteem in which Judge 
CiRiGGS was held party lines were unknown. Jim Griggs, 
as we knew liini and called liim, knew no party in the 
personal friendship he gave and received. 

We do not claim for him that he was without fault, but 
in the greatness of ids virtues the smallness of his faults 
Iiave to-day been swallowed up and lost forever. Full 
well, too, we know that sucii weakness and frailties as he 
had were of the flesh and not of the heart. If harm they 
did, it was to him and not to mankind. His ideals were 
high, his purpose was noble, and his heart was clean. 
He stood in the way of no man's success. He strove to 
help and not to hinder. His life was useful, and the 
memory of it will be helpful and encouraging in the days 
to come, for he taught that the love of humanity is the 
highest and noblest of all virtues, and tiiat honesty of life 
and of purpose is ever a siiield and protection against 
every slander and calumny. 



[57] 



Address of Mr. Lee, of Georgia 

Mr. Speaker: A life of great usefulness came to an end 
when James Mathews Griggs closed his eyes in death. 
The people of the second congressional district of Geor- 
gia lost the services of an able Representative who had 
conscientiously furthered their interests in and out of 
Congress for a dozen years, and liis State is tlie poorer 
in the passing away of one who added luster to her name. 
He had not yet reached the measure of a half hundred 
years when the grim reaper cut him down. But, sir, the 
value of a man is not to be gauged by periods of time, 
but by deeds alone, and by the application of this stand- 
ard we shall approximate the true worth of our departed 
colleague and friend. 

His life has been sketched so fully that I need not ad- 
dress myself to that grateful task, but it will be no less a 
pleasure to review briefly tlie career of a man who wrote 
success on all he undertook. Mr. Griggs had been a 
school-teacher, an editor, and a lawyer. In the last- 
named profession lie achieved an enduring reputation. 
He readily assimilated the fundamental principles of 
jurisprudence, and whether as prosecuting attorney, or 
pleading for a client, or as a judge on the bench, he 
applied them with rare insight to the case at issue. His 
pleadings were always incisive, his judgments illuminat- 
ing. He had the rare gift of getting right at the heart 
of a controversy, the results of which were logical deduc- 
tion and expression luminant with clearness. Had he 
remained on the bench he would have been sure of 
mounting to the topmost round of the ladder. 

[58] 



Address of Mr. Lee, of Georgia 



There was, however, in liis composition that which 
made him eager for the more exciting domain of politics. 
Thus, while the hench lost an ahle judge, his party gained 
an able exponent of its doctrines, his district a inost val- 
uable representative, and the Congress of the United 
States a diligent legislator. He proved his mettle in many 
a hard-fought campaign, and his conquering quality was 
proved by the fact that his career in this House was not 
interrupted from the daj' he first entered it until the day 
of his death. For nearly 14 years he served his people, 
and there is none among us that served more faithfully. 

There is no assembly anjwhere in which a man's real 
worth is more quickly and more clearly made manifest 
than in the House of Representatives of the Congress of 
the United States. Of course passing success is vouch- 
safed to some, but lasting recognition falls to him only 
whose gifts of mind, and whose integrity in all the vicis- 
situdes of legislative shifts and combinatidns disclose the 
man of commanding power. From the very moment of 
his advent here these qualities were observed and appre- 
ciated. In the first session of the Fifty-fifth Congress he 
was assigned to the Committee on the Post Office and 
Post Roads, and on that committee he served with dis- 
tinguished ability for ten years. 

On that committee there is no opportunity for display; 
it is essentially a committee for hard, prosaic work. In- 
numerable problems of legislative and administrative 
reforms constantly present themselves; appropriations 
larger than those for any other branch of Government 
work have to be discriminatingly provided; hundreds of 
millions of dollars subjected to proper application. In 
either branch of Congress the Post Office Committee 
stands for the unremitting hard work of everj' one of its 
members. 



[59] 



Memohial Adoresses: Rei'hesextative (Iruigs 

Mr. Griggs soon established himself as one of the most 
valuable members of this committee. To the labors that 
devolved upon him he brought unflagging industry and 
zeal; a ready grasp of all the points involved in anj' 
given question; an absolute honesty of purpose to reach 
a proper judgment. He worked early and late on the 
tasks allotted to him, and when his work was done it bore 
the stamp of completeness. 

It is but natural that conspicuous service on so impor- 
tant a committee should bring promotion. In the Six- 
tieth Congress Mr. Griggs was appointed on the most 
important committee of the House — that on Ways and 
Means — and he held that assignment at the time of his 
death. The same diligence that had marked his service 
on the Post Office and Post Roads Committee and the 
Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures was dis- 
played here in even fuller measure. 

The supreme' opportunity of his whole congressional 
career came to him in the first session of the Sixty-first 
Congress, when the present tariff law was framed and 
elaborated. To the thousand and one intricacies con- 
nected with that piece of legislation is required uni-e- 
mitting attention for the solution of the many problems 
involved in the construction of the different schedules. 

On the floor of this House Jim Griggs, as he was affec- 
tionately called by his friends, was as efficient as he was 
in the committee. He was a fluent debater, ready at all 
times; never taken unawares by an opponent. He held 
his own witliout trouble in any controversy in which 
he became involved. He was always an entertaining 
speaker, for he knew how to mix philosophy and humor 
in telling proportions. While in debate, giving blow for 
blow, his assaults left no smarting wounds, for the sting 
of the moment was quickly forgotten under the never- 
failing impress of a kindly nature. 

[60] 



Address of Mr. Lee, of Georgia 



In his private litu he was greatly beloved and a delight- 
ful companion. His was a sunny disposition, under 
whose influence those about him were irresistibly im- 
pelled to a like state of mind. He had wit with a gentle 
sarcasm. He was popular to a degree among his fellows, 
a man perfectly at home in every company, and who 
could make men feel at home with him. 

I am conscious, Mr. Speaker, of having done but scant 
justice to the many excellent traits of character of our 
departed friend. But whatever is spoken here is in 
reality but the gratification we have in paying tribute to 
one we knew. He himself is his most eloquent eulogy, 
and to us is only left the regret that he should have been 
cut off at the very time of life when such a man's mental 
powers arc in their fullest fruiting. 



[61] 



Address of Mr. Adamson, of Georgia 

Mr. Speaker: Judge Griggs and I had been constant, 
warm, and intimate friends practically ever since our 
boyhood. He was born at Legrange, Ga., in the district 
which honors me with its suffrage. 

Springing from the best Americanized English stock 
his advent into this world was most auspicious in its 
location. From the organization of Troup County and 
the foundation of Lagrange, the county seat, both have 
been celebrated for the character of their population in 
point of refinement of manners, benevolence of feeling, 
general intelligence, and moral worth. Splendid archi- 
tecture and well-ordered groves and flower gardens 
adorned the town and vicinity. Music, learning, and elo- 
quence elevated the sentiment and spread their influence 
far and wide. There Ben Hill lived and made his fame 
as lawyer, pati'iot, and statesman. There David B. Cul- 
berson was given to the world. 

Excluding a host of other great men, living and dead, 
Lagrange could here close her contribution to the earth's 
list of great men with Hill, Culberson, and Griggs and 
still not suffer by comparison with any other city on earth. 
Starting life amid such surroundings, young Griggs un- 
doubtedly had inspiration enough, but he was poor, .the 
child of a widowed mother, and not her only burden. 
Fortunately she was equipped mentally, physically, and 
religiously for her task — supporting and educating for 
her country such a boy. Highly educated herself, and 
ornamented with all womanly virtues and graces, as well 

[62] 



Address of Mr. Adamson, of Georgia 

as armed with dcterniination and skill to form and carry 
forward her plans, she moved with her children to the 
adjoining county of Coweta, blessed equally with Troup 
County in the high-toned, splendid character and pro- 
gressive disposition of her people. In fact, those two 
counties, the county of Griggs's birth and the county in 
which he was reared and educated, occup}' high position 
in that Heaven-blessed region stretching from east to 
west about a hundred miles in width, entirely across the 
State, long and far-famed as middle Georgia, which, with- 
out exaggeration, has given to the world more good and 
useful, truly great men and lovely women than history 
accredits to any other equal portion of the earth's surface 
in the same length of time. 

In far-off Mexico in the days of the Montezumas a high 
order of Indians, also battling against the conquest of 
Cortez, had been stirred by fable and tradition about a 
goodly land to the far northeast, abounding in fatness 
and all the advantages that could make life attractive. 
Routed from their ancestral lands, they journeyed for 
generations, after the manner of Israel in the wilderness, 
wandering as far north as the Wabash, and then, chang- 
ing their course, ultimately realized their hopes by taking 
possession of the land of promise on the banks of the 
Flint and Chattahoochee and Tallapoosa. In this lovely 
land and matchless clime they lived and loved and 
roamed. When the English found them here they called 
them Creeks, on account of the numerous streams water- 
ing the land. Many of these streams take their rise in 
Pine Mountain, which itself surpasses imperial Massa- 
nutten, although, being surrounded by a vaster stretch of 
better country than even historic Shenandoah Valley, it 
must be lovelier and grander, else there would not be so 
much contrast to aid its majestic appearance. Rising 
suddenly from the lovely and fertile plains, it extends for 

[63] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Griggs 

40 miles east and west, varying in width from 5 to 15 
miles. The many and varied springs issning around its 
base will in the future furnish water for 50 thrifty towns 
and cities. The qualities of those waters, as well as 
their abundance and variety, will idtimately make them 
famous throughout the world. If they were in Germany, 
Switzerland, or even in the Northern States, and coidd 
be accompanied by their climate, they would attract hun- 
dreds of thousands of health and pleasure seekers to 
scatter their wealth in that favored clime. In exchange 
for the five counties organized from the lands around that 
mountain Georgia ceded to the United States both Ala- 
bama and Mississippi, completing the negotiations for 
which the great chief Mcintosh was assassinated on the 
banks of the romantic Chattahoochee, and to compel 
compliance with which the intrepid and immortal Gov- 
ernor Troup conducted the only successful contest ever 
maintained against the United States by anybody or any 
power. The Federal Government removed the Indians, 
and that territory now comprises most of the counties of 
the district in which Judge Griggs was born, and also the 
one which he represented in Congress. None of those 
counties are yet a hundred years old, and yet their splen- 
did people have filled the world with their fame. 

At Senoia, in Coweta County, young Griggs's mother 
arranged to maintain herself and children and at the 
same time provide for their education. Well did she 
perform her work of love and sacrifice, but her labor 
brought abundant reward in the accomplishments of her 
son. As well as any other woman, she deserves to have 
applied to her the scriptural beatitude : 

Many daughters liave done virtuously, but thou excellest 
them all. 



[64] 



Address of Mr. Adamson, of Georgia 

Griggs always asserted that he did not study his books 
much, but studied mischief more. As he must have been 
a very boyisli boy, that is possibly true, but he managed 
somehow to acquire considerable training and gather 
much valuable knowledge, so that he was able to make 
good time in completing his course in college. When 
he went to work in the world he met with unvarying suc- 
cess. For a wliile he taught school, giving satisfaction, 
making reputation, and earning good salary, which was 
much needed. He was an editor for a while, then he 
read law and was admitted to the bar and opened an 
office in Berrien County. Clients immediately flocked to 
him and he prospered from the beginning. He began to 
feel in his soul an inspiration akin to the promise made 
to Job — 

Though thy beginning was small, yot fliy hiUcr end shall greatly 
increase. 

Then he moved to Terrell County, married a good 
woman, who helped his good mother make him a still 
better man. He was well calculated, with such help, to 
make a good impression among new neighbors and asso- 
ciates, foi', like Joseph, he "was a goodly person and well 
favored." Like Saul — 

There was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person 
than he. 

In fact, it could be truthfully said of him as of 
Absalom — 

From the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there 
was no blemisli in him — 

And his mental strength and activity were in just pro- 
portion to his physical perfection. 



73502°— 11 5 ■ [65] 



Memorial Addresses : Representative Griggs 

When first impressions chain the attention a distinct 
advantage is gained, and fortunate is the man worthy 
and alert enough to hold that advantage by his future 
deportment. (Iriggs was thus fortunate. He was soon 
made solicitor-general of the circuit, and discharged the 
duties of the ofTicc with great eiriciency, integrity, and 
distinction. Then he became judge of the circuit, wherein 
he presided with ability, dignity, justice, modesty, and 
mercy until elected to Congress in 1896. His services 
here for 13 years are known of all men. His superior in 
intellect has not occupied a seat in either House of Con- 
gress during my experience here. His manners were so 
pleasing, liis heart so kind, his intercourse with his col- 
leagues so courteous and cordial and honorable that all 
were his friends. He knew every man in the House, and 
first and last contrived to render some service or kind- 
ness to most of them. Consequently, he was well fortified 
in their esteem and gratitude, so that any reasonable thing 
he wanted or proposition he maintained received the 
support of the House. He was perhaps the most pleasing, 
versatile, and ready speaker in this body. Full of anec- 
dote, illustration, good humor, yet never sillj% never diy 
nor tedious, and always pointed — " thrice armed," because 
"he had his cause aright." He could bring in the Mem- 
bers and fill up the seats when he arose to speak, and 
hold attention and carry his hearers with him at will as 
long as he cared to hold the floor. He was broad and 
patriotic, as all great minds are. He loved the flag and 
the Union, loving both a great deal more ardently than 
some sectionalists and centralists who prate about them 
for what they get out of them or hope to get out of them. 

He loved a constitutional Union, working in dual har- 
mony as planned by the fathers, and could never reconcile 
his mind to countenance that heresy professed by some as 
patriotism which would utilize the Union and the Federal 

[66] 



\ 



I 



Address of Mr. Adam son, of Georgia 

Governinent merely as the means to persecute, aljuse, 
hold, and exploit portions of our common country for 
selfish sectional and financial purposes. He loved the flag 
as the emblem of a grand, indissoluble Union of sovereign 
independent self-governing States, to protect which con- 
dition the Constitution and the Union were formed. He 
rejoiced alwaj's that the flag itself did not carrj- upon its 
face to mar its beautiful folds the stains and disgrace 
intlicted on our history and country in the last 50 j'ears 
under the false plea of exercising patriotism and preserv- 
ing the Union. The pure patriot and true supporter of 
the Union is he who comprehends and appreciates the con- 
dition of civil liberty and boon of local self-government 
guaranteed^ in perpetuity to all the States and by all the 
States to one another through and by the powerful arm of 
one common Federal Government using the strength of 
all the States for that purpose in administering the dele- 
gated affairs of the Union. Such a patriot was Judge 
GRKKis, so plain, honest, and void of deceit he never failed 
to call down an unseemly demonstration of the spurious 
brand of patriotism and fraternity. 

He believed that every community ought to do its duty, 
contributing not only good citizenship, but material and 
lasting improvements to the general goodness, prosperitj% 
and greatness of a cojnmon country, and he was the kind 
of a man and lived and hoped to help make the kind of 
liberty-loving people described by the prophet: 

Their nobles shall be of themselves and their governor shall 
proceed from the midst of them. 

He was such a bright, handsome, and promising boy 
that his elders took notice of him, talked with him, encour- 
aged and inspired him with desire to take station with 
them. Tliat, of course, was helpfid and fraught with no 
evil nor raised any obstacle among wise men. Unfor- 

[67] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative (iRioos 

tunately it carried with it tlie disadvantage usually encoun- 
tered by precocity, that his ambition and aspirations 
brought him in competition with older men who could not 
brook rivalry by a youngster. So that often in his career 
he had to suffer from the resentment and envy of older 
men who bitterly resented his phenomenal success and 
progress. His record is made up. In every period of life 
he was a complete success. As a lawyer and solicitor he 
was one of the best. As a judge he was never accused of 
injustice nor oppression. He could not be denounced as 
one of — 

them that decree unrighteous decrees and that write grievousness 
which they have prescribed to turn aside tlie needy from judg- 
ment and to take away tlie riglit from the poor of my people, 
that widows may be their prey and that they may rob the 
fatherless. 

But as of Samuel, the just judge, it could have been said 
of him : 

Thou hast not defrauded us nor oppressed us, neither hast thou 
taken ought of any man's hand. 

As a Member of Congress he came fully up to the stand- 
ard of courage, integrity, patriotism, and statesmanship 
set up by the great men who organized this Government 
and conducted its destinies to greatiiess and glory in the 
exercise, enjoyment, and protection of liberty, justice, and 
fairness for 70 years. Verily, he was the beneficiary of 
the same loving care and providence the Lord described 
to David through Nathan the Prophet : 

I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have 
cut off thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a 
name like the name of the great men that are in the earth. 



[68] 



Address of Mr. Adamson, of (Jeorgia 

He was the soul ol' honor, hut full of self-respect and 
extremely sensitive and jealous to resent and rehuke inten- 
tional wrong or discourtesy, yet courteous and genial; the 
most considerate of men, he accorded to everyhody fair 
treatment and luiselfishly deferred to the wishes and con- 
venience of others. He was the best poised man I ever 
knew. Nothing could disturb his equanimity. Though 
vexed and chagrined beyond ordinary endiu'ance. he could 
disguise his feelings, and, though inwardly moved by pas- 
sion, even the deepest anger, no facial expression nor out- 
ward symptom betrayed his emotion. Though brave as 
the bravest, he was discreet and adroit. He never courted 
trouble of any character, but his moral and physical cour- 
age was such that, having done all he could to avoid 
conflict, he was ready, if it came, to dispose of it earnestly, 
properly, and swiftly. His conduct most exactly followed 
the advice of Polonius to Laertes : 

Beware 

Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, 

Bcar't that the opponent may beware of thee. 

His intellect was not of the laborious or plodding order. 
His mind ran and leaped, sometimes flying with the 
celerity of the lightning to unerring conclusions. He did 
not have to reason and figure out problems; his intuition 
was equal to that of a woman, who can usually see the 
end from the beginning and announce tlu' conclusion 
when men first begin to reason. If he had been a hunter, 
he woidd not have ridden all day to the music of the 
hounds following the quarry, but would have leisurely 
ridden straight across forest, field, fence, and gorge and 
taken the exact position to be "in at the death." His 
facility to apprehend at a glance any situation, to detect 
instantl}' salient and weak points, and his alacrity to 
reach accurate results without labor and toil brings to 

[69] 



Mkmorial Addresses : Representative Griggs 

mind another great and immortal genius of whom Pol- 
lock thus speaks in comparing him to — 

Others, though great, 

Beneatli their argument seemed struggling; wliiles 

He from al)ove descending, stooped to toueli 

Tlie loftiest thought; and proudly stooped, as though 

It scarce deserved his verse. 

Pollock says in further describing him: 

And on the loftiest toi) 

Of Fame's dread mountain sat; not soiled, and worn. 

As if he from the earth had laboured up; 

But as some bird of heavenly plumage fair. 

He looked, which down from higher regions came, 

And perched it there, to see what lay beneath. 



[70] 



I 



Address of Mr. Bell, of Georgia 

Mr. Speaker: I accept this opportunity to pay my 
tribute to the memory of one who in life was my warm 
personal friend, and whose death I feel keenly. It might 
well be said: 

Those who knew liiiii besl lovetl him most, and those who 
knew him little loved him much. 

James Mathews Griggs, born at Lagrange, Ga., March 
29, 1861, was educated in the common schools of Georgia 
and at Peabody Normal College, at Na.shville, Tenn., 
from which institution he was graduated in May, 1881. 
From the time he taught a country school at Martin, Ga., 
in his early life, up to the time of his death he filled 
many important and high positions. He was a lawyer by 
profession, and after a brief but successful practice at 
the bar he was elected prosecuting attorney for the 
Pataula judicial circuit, in 1888, in his native State; was 
reelected to this position, after which he resigned and 
was appointed judge of the same circuit and twice 
reelected without opposition. In 1896 he resigned the 
office of judge and was elected to the Fifty-fifth Congress, 
and succeeded himself six times to this high position. 

It was my pleasure to serve several years in Congress 
wilii Judge Griggs, during which time I was intimately 
acquainted with him, and my knowledge of him con- 
vinced me that we had no stronger advocate of the great 
principles for which we stand than he, and surely no man 

[71] 



Memorial Addresses : Representative Griggs 

liad a higher sense of justice and right. His record in 
Congress is convincing of his brain and ability, and his 
desire to treat everyone fairly was indicative of his great 
heart and soul, and his removal from the activities of 
public life is a distinct loss to Congress and to the Nation. 

He was full of humor, which went hand in hand with 
his knowledge both of men and books, and a more agree- 
able companion, a more interesting man in conversation, 
it would have been impossible to fihd; but his charm as 
a companion and friend rested on those deeper and 
stronger qualities without which the most compelling 
charm is fleeting and superficial. 

He was eminently loyal to country, to party, and to 
friend. I have had many heart-to-heart talks with him 
about his public career, and the one thing uppermost in 
his mind and heart was to leave a good name, believing, 
as he said, that " a good name is more to be desired than 
riches." I remember distinctly on one occasion he was 
telling me of a proposition a friend had made him to 
aid him in a matter he was directly interested in, when 
he turned to me and said: 

You are also my friend, and do you think it would be per- 
fectly proper for me to accept this proposition, as I do not 
want to do anything which is not right and free from criticism. 

I could see nothing wrong in the proposition, but found 
afterwards he did not accept it, as he felt some scruples 
about it. Such traits of character do not belong to the 
weak, and no man could be thus moved without feeling 
in his heart that " it is not all of life to live nor all of 
death to die." His personality was one of his strongest 
points, and no man ever made stronger friends than he. 
He carried sunshine with him wherever he went, and all 
with whom he came in contact loved him and had the 
highest regard for him. He was a good counselor, and 



[72] 



Address of Mr. Bell, of (iEORC.L\ 



liis judgment was never at a discount, and his conclusions 
were clear and unmistakable. 

It is hard that we should he separated Irom one so noble 
and true, hut we must how to the inevitable, and with 
pleasure look hack upon his eventful lite and trust that 
his great soul has returned to the God who gave it. 

I attended the funeral of my friend and witnessed the 
last sad rites which marked the passage from this world 
of this truly great man. The vast throng of people there 
to pay a last tribute of respect to their departed leader and 
friend was a touching .scene, for there the high and the 
low, the rich and the poor, brought me face to face with 
the fact that the people who knew him best loved him 
most, and that, indeed, a great man had departed this life. 
The floral contributions bore eloquent testimony of the 
high esteem in which he was held by the people all over 
the district which he so ably represented. We can hardly 
bring ourselves to a sense of realization that our friend 
has gone from us, but it is true, and the great soul of this 
brother has passed to the beyond, " from whence no trav- 
eler e'er returns," but we are steadfast in the hope that 
he is — 

On the other side of Jordan, in the sweet fields of Eden, 
Where the tree of life is blooming. 

Ah, life, what art thon. 

With thy smiles and willi thy fears? 

And what is love, 

That kisses youth and lingers through the years'? 

And what is death, 

That chills each heart and stills all troubling fears? 

Dost thou not know, thou wanderer of mine? 

Dost thou not barken to the breath of spring 

-And hopes that thrill and pine? 



[73] 



Memorial Addresses : Representative Griggs 

Dost thou know enough, that life is good; 

That life is joy untold, 

As free and broad as sunset ray? 

A clay it is, for thine own hand to mold; 

To make or mar it, as you may. 

And what is love? 

Ah, foolish child, to ask it in thy mood. 

What it is thine own heart knows, 

And strives to do its bidding. 

It serves thee well and tenderly. 

What else it is thou canst not know. 

And what is death? 

Ah, friend of mine, seek far and well 

Before you turn from me. 

A dream is but a rose's breath, so pure and free; 

And so is death. 'Tis but a dream, 

A sleep, a tender kiss, 

A pillow for thy care and tear; 

It is not, then, amiss. 

And what is life? 

And what is love? 

And what is death? 

Seek no more, nor worry with thy queries, 

For life is love, and love is death. 

And death is peace and sweet — 

Sweet rest for one who wearies. 



[74] 



Address of Mh. Bahtlktt, of (Ieorgia 

Mr. Speaker : The lateness of the hour, the completeness 
with which my colleagues and those who have spoken 
liave covered the suhject ol" the life, character, and puhlic 
services of our dead friend, whom we have met here 
to-day to memorialize, admonish me that there is scarcely 
anything left to say; hut 1 would not obey the promptings 
of my own heart were 1 not to add a few words to what 
has been said. 

To every man upon tliis earth 

Deatli Cometh soon or late; 
.\nd liow can man liie better 

Than facing fearful odds 
For the ashes of his fathers 

And the temples of his gods? 

That was written of the heroic deed of an illustrious 
Roman soldier who fought the enemies away from the 
gates of the Eternal City. 

Our friend at the time of his death was not a soldier, 
l)ul when the sudden summons came, like a flash of light- 
ning from a clear sky, we can but recall and say, " How 
can man die better than facing fearful odds?" as he did 
for nearly fourteen years in this Chamber, with all his 
armor on and always ready in defense of the theories 
and principles of his fathers and his people, whom he so 
ably represented. 

1 knew Jim Griggs from his early boyhood. I knew him 
when he was a struggling young lawj-er and an editor. I 
knew his grand parents, because they were born in the 

[75] 



Memorial Addresses : Representative Gric.gs 

good old county of Jasper, in middle (ieorgia, my own 
native county. It was there, nestling among those red 
hills of (Ieorgia, amid the oak and hickory groves, within 
a few miles of where his father was horn, that distin- 
guished and immortal orator of (Ieorgia, to whom refer- 
ence has been made, Benjamin Harvey Hill, first saw the 
light; who moved from Jasper County to Lagrange, where 
our deceased friend was born and reared. He was a 
Georgian, and within the warp and woof of his body was 
woven the strength of iron of our old red hills. From her 
hymettus he drank the honey that made his tongue utter 
eloquent words whenever he spoke. Born just at the 
beginning of that great struggle that convulsed not only 
this Republic, but gatliered about the conflict the gaze and 
wonder of the world, he never knew his father, because 
upon a battlefield in Virginia that father laid down his 
life in defense of the principles that he and his comrades 
fought for, to preserve constitutional liberty and the rights 
of the States to control and govern their own affairs. 

Left, like the mothers in the balance of that country, in 
poverty, in distress, and amid devastation, the mother 
struggled to rear her two boys until James Griggs grew to 
manhood, and l)y teaching himself and by deprivations 
and the struggles of his mother he obtained an education. 

When a member of the Georgia Senate well do I remem- 
ber he appeared in 1888 before that body and asked to be 
elected as solicitor general of the Pataula district. He 
then made the beginning of a career which has become 
illustrious and great, and would have been more illus- 
trious and greater but for his untimely death. His genial 
appearance, his frank and honest appeal to the members 
of that legislatui-e so won their hearts, so challenged their 
admiration, that there was no resisting voting for him, and 
he was overwhelmingly elected and began his public 
service then. 

[76] 



Ai)i)iu;.s.s oi Mh. BAHii.i-;rr, oi (Ikohciia 

As jiulge on an adjoining circuit I presided for weeks 
in Pataula circuit trying cases in wliicli he, as solicitor 
general, represented the State. Important cases of seri- 
ous magnitude, some of them capital cases, came up for 
trial in which he represented the State. He was always 
fair, he was always just, he was always earnest, and when 
convinced that the h\w had been violated, that the man 
was guilty, he left no fair or honest means unresorted to 
to secure the enforcement of the law. 

His power before the jury was remarkable. Some men 
have power like the smooth flowing water of a deep 
stream that moves slowly on; some like our friend have 
greater power similar to that which has been referred 
to as possessed by Benjamin Harvey Hill, of a great 
slrong-ilowing current which rolls over everything that 
opposes it. 

1 happened to be in Atlanta in 1893, when, being upon 
the bench, I received information that there was a vacancy 
in the Pataula circuit and that an effort would be made 
to appoint some man then named for a judgeship. I 
immediately wired to my friend, .Jim Griggs, that he was 
the man who should be appointed. Upon the reception 
of that telegram he immediately set to work to secure 
the indorsement of the bar of his own circuit, and with 
the aid of the lawyers at Macon and elsewhere in the 
State, when the resignation came the governor was not 
able to resist the insistence of the lawyers and people 
to appoint Jamks M. Griggs to the vacancy. 

I watched him on the bench as judge, because he was 
called to preside in my city to tiy quite a number of 
cases in which 1 was dis(]ualified to preside by reason of 
previous employment, and no member of the bar, from 
the youngest to the oldest, from the newcomer to the most 
experienced, ever had a word of complaint or anything 
except words of praise and commendation for his upright- 

[77] 



Memorial Addresses : Representative Griggs 

ness, lor his patience, and for the care and attention which 
he gave to the hearings of the cases and the justice of the 
decisions whicli he rendered. 

Some people were disposed to say, by reason of the 
fact that he was jovial, good-natured, alwaj's in good 
humor, apjtarcntly never devoting himself to study, that 
he was not a good lawyer. That is a great mistake. In 
those cases tried in my circuit where he presided, involv- 
ing large amounts of money and intricate questions which 
a country lawyer and a country judge, as he was, on a 
country circuit, rarely had occasion to investigate or to 
try; in the cases in which he rendered these important 
decisions appeared not only local counsel, but eminent 
counsel from New York. 

Those decisions rendered by him were all upheld by the 
supreme court of our State to which they were appealed, 
for his keen, good common sense always guided him, and, 
generally, to a correct judgment. 

And so he went on from student to lawyer, la\\'\'er to 
editor, editor to solicitor general, to judge, and, finally, 
in 1896, tlic people of the second congressional district 
sent him here, in this, the greatest representative body of 
all the nations of the earth, to represent tliat district and 
that glorious people and their interests here, where they 
have been represented by men of distinguished character 
and ability, such as Henry G. Turner, Smith, and others. 

He scarcely had taken his seat before he became 
acquainted with the membership upon both sides. No 
man during my stay here has formed friends, associates, 
and companions on both sides more quickly than he. 
Recognizing his ability and devotion to the interests of 
the party to which he belonged, the national congres- 
sional committee twice elected him chairman, and while 
we all believed that the task was herculean he discharged 
the duties of that office and that position with fidelity and 



[78] 



Address of Mr. Bartlett, of (Ieorgia 

;il)ility. and in each case, in each election, lie rednced the 

membership of the opposition i'rom what it was before 

the election was held. 

I do not desire to detain the House much longer. Like 

all of us — 

Our acts our angels are, or good or ill, 
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still. 

We do not undertake to say that our friend was with- 
out fault. Who is there who is? No man who ever 
breathed the air of Heaven has been in the ages past or 
will be in the ages to come, without fault. Only one, and 
he was God-like and God. Oin- friend's faults were never 
undertaken to be concealed; but his virtues, the manly 
traits of his character, his devotion to principle, his love 
for his friends, his ever readiness to lend his hand to 
charily and to forgive an injury, so overshadowed his 
faults that we can well omit to refer to them here to-day. 
His work is done, nobly done. Never more in the temples 
of justice or the halls of legislation or on the hustings 
will be heard the cheering and eloquent tones of his voice. 
Yet we feel convinced that the lessons of his successful 
life and the virtues and many manly qualities of character 
he exhibited will not be forgotten, for — 

The dead arc like the stars by day 

Withdrawn from mortal eye: 
But not extinct, they hold their sway 

In glory through the sky. 

Plato, the great philosopher, Plato %vho, though he had 
no revelation and no religion taught by the Bible, yet felt 
and saw that the soul was immortal. Instinctively he 
knew it, and he said: 

'Tis the divinity tlial stirs within us: 
'Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter 
-\nd intimates eternilv to man. 



[791 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Griggs 

Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought! 
The soul secured in her existence smiles 
At the drawn dagger and defies its point; 
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself 
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years. 
But thou shall flourish in immortal youth, 
Unhurt amidst the war of elements. 
The wreck of matter, and the crash of worlds. 

Our friend is gone. Thanks be to the religion of this 
day, both in the Old Bible and the Revealed, we know, and 
our friend knew and believed, as Plato did, that the soul 
is immortal and will live hereafter, for Christianity and 
revealed religion teaches us and taught him — 

To the dead He sayeth, arise; 

To the living, follow me; 
And the voice still soundeth on 
From the centuries that are gone 

To the centuries that shall be. 

That voice has called our friend; it has called him 
higher, to " follow me," and he has obeyed. 



[80] 



Address of Mr. Michael E. Driscoll, of New York 

Mr. Speaker: While the House is in session for the 
express purpose of doing lionor to our departed friend and 
colleague, permit me to pay my humble tribute of respect 
to his memory, and to state in a few words my high appre- 
ciation of his many manly virtues and great abilitj' as a 
jurist and legislator. Those of you who have thus far 
spoken are Democrats, and all, save one, southern Demo- 
crats. You loved him for his loyalty to his friends and his 
genial and sunny disposition, and for his rare good fellow- 
ship and sweet and wholesome nature, and admired him 
for his genius for organization and wise counsel, as well 
as for the distinguished service he rendered his party and 
the country. 

Let me, as a northern Rei)ublican, speak of him. Dur- 
ing the last 25 years mucii has been said and written of the 
new South, of the enterprising and progressive spii'it of 
its people in many fields of industrial activity and their 
readjustment to the new and different conditions which 
were forced upon them by the abolition of slave labor and 
the discontinuance of the old system. The people of the 
North have been intensely interested in their awakening 
into new life and energy from the temporary paralysis 
wliich seemed to afflict them for some years after the war, 
for we rejoice in the progress and prosperity of all parts 
of our common countr\'. It was but natural that the elder 
statesmen and the old planters and slave owners should 
sulk ill tlieir tents wifli their abandoned hopes and live 

7350:;° — 11 6 [81] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Griggs 

out their I'emaining years in bitterness and despair. To 
the generation wliich grew to manhood after the close of 
the war is mainly due the credit and glorj' of regenerating 
the Southland and starting it on its present career of 
splendid and permanent achievement. 

To my mind our late colleague typified, and in a com- 
prehensive sense personified, the new South. We served 
together 10 years and I was fairly well acquainted with 
him, for he was big hearted, whole-souled, verj' approach- 
able, and companionable. He was born on the 29th of 
March, 1861, only 11 days before the firing of the first 
hostile gun which inaugurated one of the most determined 
and destructive wars that have ever been waged between 
men. He was born in Georgia, in the heart of tlie Con- 
federacy and at a time when the people of the Southland 
were inspired with hope and faith and sublime confidence 
that if war must come they would succeed in the arbit- 
rament of arms, for it is inconceivable that men, and 
women too, would have maintained that unequal struggle 
so long and so bravely and sacrificed so much did they 
not believe in the eternal justice of their cause. 

Mr. Griggs's buoyant and hopeful disposition and tem- 
perament and resolute courage illustrated what I con- 
ceive was the prevailing opinion in his State and through- 
out the South during the months which elapsed between 
Mr. Lincoln's election to the Presidency and active hos- 
tilities. Though an infant in ai-ms during that dreadful 
conflict, it doubtless made some impression on his plastic 
mind. The martial spirit in preparation for that war 
pervaded every hamlet in the South. Georgia responded 
to the call for volunteers with the flower of her youth. 
This child in the cradle saw them recruiting, training, 
and marching away toward the North and the front. His 
infant ears became attuned to the martial strains of Dixie, 
which lie learned to love. Then later on and ere he 



[82] 



Address of Mr. Drisloll, ui New York 

rcailied the age ol' 4 he heard Ironi tlie invading liosts 
the dominant and inspiring air ol' ^hircliing Throngh 
Georgia, when Sherman broke through the shell of the 
Confederacy and made his triumphant march from 
Atlanta to the sea. 

Georgia suffered in that war. Her homes were burned, 
her property appropriated, and her liclds laid waste, and 
she lay crushed, exhausted, and i)leeding at the mercy 
of a conquering arm}'. Her political status was unsettled. 
She tried to secede and failed. Practically she was 
neitiier in nor out of the Union as a State. She was 
untler military government during the period of read- 
justment. Her while population was decimated by the 
ravages of war, and many who survived were cripphd 
and enfeebled in health. Her people were desperately 
poor and discouraged, and for a time they remained piu'- 
poseless and torpid. Then, as by magic, from the wreck 
and ruins of their material prosperity, from the anniiiila- 
tion of their political ideals, and the travail and humilia- 
tion of defeat and reconstruction they arose in their 
might, girded up their loins, and resolved to face the 
future and the new and diflerent conditions. 

Mr. Grkics was one of the etl'ective forces in this move- 
ment. He was now a strong, sturdy, and handsome boy 
approaching manhood, a splendid development of body 
and mind, and a typical representative of the new South 
in its determined efi"ort to look forward and accept the 
situation which was forced upon them, and reestablish 
their pros|)erity in harmony with the changed political 
and industrial conditions. He was not only a type, but a 
development — a product of the regenerated and virile 
South. He was one of those young men who resolved not 
to waste their energies in vain regrets, but to face the 
future witli stout hearts and resolute delermination to 
rebuild the business and commercial interests of their 



[83] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Griggs 

State and to restore her to her place of influence and 
power in the councils of the Nation. His energy, buoy- 
ancy, and refreshing optimism encouraged his people in 
their renewed efforts, and his genial disposition, good 
cheer, and attractive personality did much to soften the 
asperities engendered by that dreadful conflict. That 
he imbibed with his mother's milk and inhaled with the 
southern breezes a deep prejudice against the people who 
wrought such havoc in his land was but natural. But his 
broad and open mind and willingness to consider a ques- 
tion from the other's viewpoint, and his natural disposi- 
tion to be friends with all, enabled him to subdue this 
prejudice. He did his part toward the obliteration of the 
Mason and Dixon line and in bridging the bloody chasm 
created by the war, and for that he deserved the gratitude 
of all his countrymen. 

He had a pleasant word and cheerful smile for all. He 
was generous and charitable, open-hearted and open- 
handed to the limit of his means. The man who lives only 
to grasp and hoard, whose god is gold, and never has 
enough, misses much of the sweetest joys of living, for he 
becomes narrow, sordid, mean, and hardly honest; while 
be who lives to get and give, who works and earns and 
spends on those he loves, whose heart is warm and hand 
is open, always ready to help and comfort a brother in 
distress, lives a happy life and full; and when his sum- 
mons comes to pass away he is missed and mourned by 
multitudes of sincere friends. Such a man was the late 
Jim Griggs. 

In wit and humor, jest and repartee, he had few equals 
in the House; but so free was his heart from malice and 
his tongue from venom that when he shot his darts and hit 
the mark they never rankled in his opponent's breast; and 
he had no foes. He was a laughing philosopher, to whom 
it was a delight to scatter sunshine and make men happy. 

[84] 



Address of Mr. Driscoll, of \e\v York 

And yet to him life was not all a joke or continuous holi- 
day. He was a serious-minded man, with definite aims 
and purposes. He had strong convictions, which he was 
ever ready and able to defend. The storm and stress in 
which his early years were spent did not embitter his soid 
or make him a carping critic. He spent no time in looking 
backward or in contemplating what might have been, but 
promptly adjusted himself to the new conditions, resolv- 
ing to make his way and forge ahead. As student, teacher, 
writer, attorney, solicitor, judge, and Congressman he was 
a marked success. With fine natural gifts and earnest, 
faithful, well-directed work, he made his way upward 
and onward; and at an age when most men are looking 
forward with hope and confidence to the realization of 
their ambitions his summons came. He died in the har- 
ness and in the full tide of his activities and usefulness. 
His record is made, of which his district and his State 
may be justly proud; and he will long be remembered with 
esteem and afl'ection by his colleagues on both sides of 
this Chamber. 



[85] 



Address of Mr. Alexander, ok New York 

Mr. Speaker: My opportunity for knowing Mr. Griggs 
was limited to the corridors, the cloak rooms, and the floor 
of tliis House. I did not liavc the pleasure of sharing his 
home life or of serving with him upon a committee, which 
is the mating ground of Congress. And yet 1 felt that I 
knew him \\ell, for no one could be about him almost daily 
for a decade without catching the joyous spirit that gov- 
erned his treatment of men. Indeed, he was one whose 
biography, thougii it might convey some impression of 
what he did and of the influence of his work and of his 
life, must necessarily fail to give any adequate impression 
of his personality. 

To unlock tlie treasures of his delightful nature one had 
to sec and hear and know him as he appeared among men. 
He belonged to those who speak most by what they do not 
say. His smile, his sympatliy, his love of helping, his 
social qualities, and his iunnor, always of a generous and 
suave sort, made at home in all circles, and the companion 
and friend of eveiwone. He was unaflectedly true to a 
nature constantly sincere and kind and simple. It was due 
to this quality of his personality that expressions of sor- 
row after his death came from men of all parties and all 
classes, and in the contemplation of his life it is this sense 
of his character whicli will remain most distinctly and 
firmly. It can l)e said of him as it has been written of 
another: "His wide blue eyes were as gracious deeds; 



[86] 



Address of Mr. Alexander, of New York 

okl sunsets lingered in liis cheeks; he was honesty in 
bloom — one of Time's elect who asked no bribe to be glad, 
wished naught that noonday cloud had not; sweetened 
insipid hours with gratitude for being, took ills as promises 
of better things, and smiled throughout the day in token 
of a kinship with all mornings from the first." 



[87] 



Address of Mr. Kahn, of California 

Mr. Speaker: The grim reaper has been active during 
the present Congress. His aim has been directed at shin- 
ing marks. His shafts liave stilled the heart tlirobs of 
distinguished Members on both sides of the center aisle. 
And these memorial ceremonies which have occurred 
with such distressing frequency in recent weeks but serve 
to remind us that — 

We are no other than a moving row 
Of magic shadow shapes that come and go 
'Round with the sun-illumined lantern, held 
In midnight by the Master of the show. 

But helpless pieces of the game he plays 
Upon this checkerboard of nights and days; 
Hither and thither moves and checks and slays, 
And, one by one, back in the closet lays. 

Mr. Speaker, it seems but yesterday that our lamented 
colleague, James Mathews Griggs, full of the vigor of 
life, occupied his seat upon this flooi*. It seems but yes- 
terday that we heard his cheery, infectious laugh; it seems 
but yesterday that we listened to the words of counsel 
that fell from his lips. It is hard to realize that he has 
gone from among us; that he has answered his last roll 
call; that he has taken his "station in the silent halls of 
death." 

While I did not know Judge Griggs intimately, 1 had 
learned to esteem him highly. It was always a pleasure 
to listen to him in debate. His native good humor and 
his strong personal magnetism naturally drew men to 
him and made him a host of friends. It was therefore 



[88] 



Address of ;\Ir. Kahn, of California 

to be expected that the announcement of his untimely 
death should have cast a gloom over the entire member- 
ship of this House. I say his untimely death, for he was 
cut down in the veiy prime of life. With his robust phy- 
sique, we all felt that he would conquer in his struggle 
with the " angel of the darker drink " and that he would 
be spared to his country and his State for many years of 
usefulness. But it was not to be. 

I can readih' understand why he was beloved so devot- 
edly by his constituents, and why they delighted to honor 
him. Although constantly engaged in attending to the 
larger wants of his country and his State, he was never 
above attending to the little matters in which those con- 
stituents had a personal interest. Even while he lay upon 
his sick bed at his home in Dawson he did not cease to 
interest himself in their individual wants. I know that 
from actual experience, for during tliat period of illness 
he wrote me, on several occasions, in behalf of one of his 
constituents who had gone to San Francisco to live. And 
after all, there is no doubt hut tluit it is the fidelity dis- 
played and the close attention given by the Member to the 
seemingly trifling matters in which individual constitu- 
ents are interested that measure his standing in his own 
district. 

There is nothing that 1 can add to what has already 
been said of our late colleague. Those who were more 
intimately acquainted witli him than 1 have svmg his vir- 
tues in language much more eloquent than mine. He 
rests peacefully under the red sod of his beloved Georgia. 
The oak and the hickory sing an eternal requiem over his 
grave. To those who were nearest and dearest to him, I 
would say, in the language of California's distinguished 
poet, Bret Harte — 

Think it not all a too presumptuous folly, 
This spray of western pine. 

[891 



MlMOUIAL AuURESSES: RePRESENTATIVK (iRIHOS 

Mr. Brantley. Mr. Speaker, I desire to ask unanimous 
.consent that general leave to print on the subject of to- 
day's eulogies be granted for 10 legislative days. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The Members have heard 
the request of the gentleman from Georgia that permis- 
sion be given for 10 legislative days to any Member who 
desires to print remarks on the subject of to-day's eulogies. 
Is there objection? [After a pause.] The Chair hears 
none, and it is so ordered. 

In pursuance of the resolutions already adopted, the 
House will now stand adjourned until 12 o'clock to- 
morrow. 

Accordingly (at 2 o'clock and 37 minuti's p. m.) the 
House adjourned. 



[00] 



Proceedings in the Senate 

Saturday, May 28, 1910. 
Till' Clui plain. Rev. Ulysses G. B. Pierce, D. D.. offered 
the lollowiiig prayer: 

Our heavenly Father, in communion with Thy faithful 
servants who, having striven to do Thy will on earth, have 
gone to Thy nearer jjresence, we otter unto Thee our 
prayer of grateful homage and of heartfelt adoration. 
We thank Thee for the life of Him \\hom our lips shall 
name, and rejoice in the witness of such as have put their 
trust in Thee and were not ashamed. Make us worthy, 
we pray Thee, of the fellowship of those who in newness 
of life dwell in heavenly places, and unite our hearts in 
love that we may live in Thy presence, now and forever 
more. .\men. 

Mr. Bacon. Mr. President, I ask the Chair to lay before 
the Senate the resolutions of the House of Representatives 
which are on the table. 

The President pro tempore. The Chair lays before the 
Senate resolutions of the House of Representatives, which 
will be read. 

The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows: 

In thk House of Representatives. 

April 17, 1910. 
licsoli'cd. That tlu' business of tlu- House be now suspended, 
that opportunity may be given for tribute to tile memory of Hon. 
James M. Griggs, late a Member of tins House frdm the State of 
Georgia. 

[9i; 



Memorial Addressks : Representative (iRUiOs 

Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the memory 
of the deceased, and in recognition of his distinguislied career, 
the House, at the conclusion of these exercises, shall stand 
adjourned. 

Fesolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the 
Senate. 

Resolved, That the Clerk send a copy of these resolutions to 
the family of the deceased. 

Mr. Bacon. Mr. President, I offer the following resolu- 
tions and ask for their adoption. 

The resolutions were read, considered by unanimous 
consent, and unanimously agreed to, as follows: 

Resolved, That the Senate expresses its profound sorrow on 
account of the death of the Hon. James Mathews Griggs, late a 
Member of the House of Representatives from the State of 
Georgia. 

Resolved, That the business of the Senate be now suspended, 
in order that fitting tributes may be paid his high character and 
tlistinguished public services. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these reso- 
lutions to the House of Representatives and to the family of the 
deceased. 



[92] 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



Address of Mh. Clay, of Georgia 

Mr. President: After Congress adjourned in December 
for the Christmas liolidays I immediately left for Georgia. 
The next morning I found on the same train with me 
Hon. James M. Griggs, a Member of Congress from Geor- 
gia, and we spent the day together on our way to Atlanta. 
There we parted. I went to my home in Marietta, Ga., 
and he went to his home in Dawson, Ga. This was the 
last time I ever saw Judge Griggs. Little did 1 think this 
would be our last meeting. He was apparently in good 
health. He had gone through a fierce political campaign 
for reelection and had been triumphantly elected by an 
overwhelming majoi'ity over a very strong opponent, 
which was the iiighest evidence of his popularity in his 
district. 

When I left him, so far as I could see, he was in perfect 
health, and his jovial disposition clearly indicated that he 
was happy and hopeful as to his future usefulness. I 
thought he had before him many years of honorable 
service for his country. On the morning of the 6th of 
January, 1910, the wires flashed the news throughout the 
country that Hon. J.\mes M. Griggs was dead. He died at 
his home in Terrell County, in the bosom of his family, 
on the evening of January 5, 1910. 

The announcement of his death brought sadness not 
only to the people of his district, but to his host of friends 
throughout Georgia and his former associates in Congress. 

[93] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Griggs 

When Judge Griggs died, a most remarkable man passed 
away. Judged by his achievements his life has liad few 
parallels. 

He was a comparatively young man when he died. I 
had known him since 1882. When I first knew him, he 
was a teacher striving to make money to get ready to 
engage in the practice of law. He was born on the 29th 
day of March, 1861, in Lagrange, (ia., consequently he 
was in his forty-nintii year at the time of his death. He 
was the son of a widow without money, but in his youth 
he determined to secure an education by his own efforts, 
and he did so. He graduated from the Peabody Normal 
College at Nashville, Tenn., in 1881, and spent 2 years 
teaching and at the same time studying law. He was 
admitted to the bar in 1883. He died within less than 27 
years after he became a lawyer. During these 27 years 
his achievements were most remarkable. 

He was elected solicitor general of liis circuit in 1888, 
and I was a member of the legislature at the time, and 
had the pleasure of voting for him. He was reelected in 
1892, but resigned the otTice the same year and was 
appointed judge of the circuit. He was twice reelected 
to this office. He resigned the office of judge in 189G to 
become a candidate for Congress, and after a spirited con- 
test was elected by a large majority. He retained his 
seat in Congress until his death, and, had he lived, would 
doubtless have been reelected. Thus it will be seen that 
Judge Grig(;s held public office for nearly 22 years pre- 
vious to his death. He was solicitor general, judge, and 
Member of Congress. Judge Griggs was never defeated 
for public office by the people. He was chairman of the 
Democratic congressional campaign committee in 1904 
and 1906. 

As solicitor general he was a vigilant and forceful 
prosecuting attorney. As a judge, he enforced the law, 



[94] 



Addhess of ;\Ik. Ci.av. of (Ifokc.ia 



but was just and luercilul. As a Member of Congress, he 
was industrious, attentive to tlie wants and needs of his 
district, popular with his associates, and had the happy 
faculty of making and retaining his friends. He was a 
practical legislator, possessing an unusual amount of com- 
mon spnse ; he knew how to control men, and the records 
will show that Judge Griggs secured for his district public 
buiklings, rural free-delivery routes, and almost every- 
thing needed in this line, and left little work of this kind 
for his successor. For years he was a member of the 
Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads. He was 
thoroughly familiar witli tlie workings of the Post Office 
Department and a stanch friend of the rural free-delivery 
service. He has often said to me that it was the ambition 
of his life to see the mail carried daily to eveiy farmer 
in his district before he left Congress. Had he lived a 
few more years tliis work would have been completed. 
He had already secured appropriations for public build- 
ings in most of the towns in his district where they were 
needed. He was wide awake to tlie wants of his constitu- 
ents. Before his death he had been made a member of 
the Ways and Means Committee of the House, and had 
his life been spared he doubtless would have become a 
most powerful and useful member of that great committee. 

When we study the life of tliis gifted and remarkable 
man, we necessarily ask the question why he was so popu- 
lar with the masses? How was it that he was successful 
in all his aspirations for public office? Why was it that 
he accomplished such satisfactory results for his district? 
I knew him for 27 years, and during this entire time we 
were personal friends. 

He had his faults. 1 believe in perfect candor on all 
occasions. I will tell j'^ou why, in my judgment, his life 
work was crowned with success. Judge (iriggs believed in 
the universal brotherhood of man. He studied human 



[95] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Griggs 

nature. He had the happy faculty of teaching men to 
think as lie thought and to see as he saw. He taught those 
who came in contact with him that he was their friend, 
and men trusted and followed him because they had confi- 
dence in his integrit}'. Judge Griggs was the friend of 
the masses. He was not selfish. He was happy when he 
was doing some kind deed for the humblest citizen of his 
district. He was brave, generous, magnanimous, tender, 
humane, and loyal. He loved the great masses of the 
people. He sympathized with them in tlieir struggles and 
in their aspirations. He sought diligently to make their 
burdens easier and to secure for his constituents every- 
thing that would advance their happiness. 

Judge Griggs at all times was thoroughly in touch with 
the plain people of his district. His kindness of heart, his 
ready and expansive sympathy were qualities that 
marked every step in his career. He was for the M'hole 
people of his district and served them faithfully. His 
native endowments and his knowledge of human nature 
kept hiuT in close touch witli almost everj' voter in his 
congressional district. In social life he was cheerful, kind, 
and considerate. These qualities made him the idol of 
the people that elected him to Congress for seven con- 
secutive terms. 

Judge Griggs in political warfare struck hard blows, 
but he never cherished malice. After the contest was over 
he was ever ready to do every possible kindness for his 
antagonist. He was a most powerful debater on the 
political hustings. He neither gave nor asked quarter. 
He was a man of splendid native ability. In joint debate 
he was at his best. He possessed a pleasing and pene- 
trating voice, a sound logic, and sustained his positions 
with great clearness and force. I repeat that he was a 
most remarkable man. His career was not an accident. 
It had its origin in a strong and noble mind. Every aspi- 

[96] 



A[)ui(E.ss OF Mr. Clay, of CIeohgia 



ration of his political life was crowned with success. No 
ordinaiy man could have achieved the wonderful success 
that crowned his efforts. He could master the most diffi- 
cult problems with little effort. In debate he was able and 
always well tempered and just. His intellect was original 
and constructive. When he talked he had something to 
say, and he used no surplus words. His speeches were 
never long, but short, incisive, and to the point. His 
audiences would follow him with delight. 

1 had the pleasure of enjoying his friendship for 27 
years. His devotion to his friends was beautiful. He was 
always read}' to fight their battles, and he never deserted 
them in the hour of trouble. 1 have been his guest and 
knew something about his domestic life. He married Miss 
Theodosia Stewart, of Randolph County, Ga., and his wife 
and two children survive him. A beautiful and accom- 
plished daughter has passed away since his death. Mrs. 
Griggs is a lady of rare personal attraction, a refined, 
devoutly religious, and higldy cultured woman. She was 
to her husband a devoted and dutiful wife, a faithful and 
loving companion. To my certain knowledge Judge 
Griggs was a most affectionate and devoted husband, an 
indulgent and loving father. 1 have seen him in Wash- 
ington with and without his family, and he was never 
happy when away from them. 

His devotion to his family was fully appreciated by his 
friends. The news of his death was received everywhere 
throughout Georgia, and especiallj' in his district, with 
most heartfelt expressions of sorrow and sympathy. His 
loss is an irreparable one to his family, his State, and his 
district, and his name will ever be remembered with 
gratitude by the people whom he served so well. 



73502°— 11 7 [97] 



Address ok Mr. Curtis, oi' Kansas 

Mr. President: It is a privilege to pay tribute to the 
memory of Judge James M. Griggs. He was a splendid 
and leading type of the noble and useful American citi- 
zen which forms the bulwark of this Nation to-day. It 
was my good fortune to know him well. It fell to my lot 
many times to oppose him on great and important ques- 
tions, and I early came to recognize the sincerity of his 
convictions. The elements within him, and which con- 
trubuted to his success, were those which are always dis- 
covered in the analysis of great characters. Possessed of 
a strong mentalitj', he was enabled to readily grasp and 
solve the difficult and important problems which from 
time to time presented themselves to liim. He was hon- 
est from principle and habit, not as a matter of policy. 
None came in contact with him without being impressed 
with his good faith and his readiness and ability to defend 
logically and firmly his position. His industry was a mat- 
ter of knowledge to all familiar with his life. He was a 
student and reached results by clear and analytical proc- 
esses, which made him formidable in debate and valuable 
in consultation. Not one of his colleagues in the House of 
Representatives kept in closer touch with the details of 
legislation than did he. He probed deeply into the ele- 
ments composing every proposed enactment, whether of 
far-reaching or local character, and his allegiance or 
opposition to any measure was based not on selfish or 
narrow grounds, but on broad and patriotic principles 
as revealed to him from his point of view. He was ever 



198] 



Address of Mr. Cirtis, of Kansas 



ii defender ol' the faith witliin him, yet he was an inde- 
fatigable seeker for that ^^■hicil was just and right and 
best in any matter to which he gave his attention. 

Mr. President, in the yi'ars of my association with 
Judge Griggs as a Member of the House, I have lieard 
none say of him an unkind, imgenerous, or harsh word. 
We all loved him as a brother, and it is a formal but a 
heartfelt tribute of affection and esteem wiiich we to-day 
pay him. 

Mr. President, the strongest eidogy which could be 
uttered for oiu- late friend is that evidenced by the high 
degree of confidence imposed in and affection entertained 
for him by his own people. They feel that they have 
lost a true friend and a tried and faithful servant, whose 
watcliword was duty, and in carrying out that duty he 
allowed no personal inclination or sacrifice to stand 
between him and what he believed to be the right. 



[99] 



Address of Mr. Overman, of North Carolina 

Mr. President: Death makes no distinction of persons 
or places. Its dark shadow hangs over the halls of Con- 
gress, over the home, over the palace and the hovel alike. 
It sooner or later sweeps down with its silent, chill, 
destroying wing over every spot whithersoever man jour- 
neys in our short earthly pilgrimage and carries us 
away to the unknown, from whence no traveler has ever 
returned. The sun shines on, the flowers continue to 
blossom, nature's springtime breaks forth in song, the 
world goes on, all oblivious of widows' tears, orphans' 
sobs, and the sorrows and burdens of life. We are soon 
forgotten, save that now and then some traveler may 
stop to read words of praise of those who participated in 
the history of the past. 

Within a few weeks we have been called upon to hold 
exercises in this Chamber to the memory of three dis- 
tinguished men of the House of Representatives, all three 
of whom were conspicuous for their ability, their patriot- 
ism, siDlendid achievements, and long service in Congress — 
David A. De Armond, Francis W. Cushman, and James 
Mathews Grigcis — and it is in the memory of the latter I 
wish to pay a simple tribute, leaving it to others of his 
own State and to those who knew him more intimately to 
give a history of his life more in detail, to draw a true 
picture of the man and his achievements for which he was 
cherished, and for which he will be remcml)ered. 

These men came from different sections of our coun- 
trj' — Cushman from the Pacific slope, De Armond from 

[100] 



Address of Mr. Overman, of North Carolina 

Missouri, and Griggs from the far South — and while 
widely different in their characteristics, they each had 
made a national reputation for himself, honored their 
States that had honored them, and were honored and 
loved by their immediate constituents as few men in 
public life are. 

Mr. Griggs was a commoner in every sense of that term. 
He was one of the people. He loved his people and his 
people loved him. While he loved with true devotion 
his own State, Georgia, he loved his country, and no 
sectional or party prejudice could swerve him from doing 
that whicli he conceived to be his duty under any and all 
circumstances. There was no lionor his people would 
not luive conferred upon him. They trusted him and 
made him their leader, and he never betrayed their con- 
fidence. So jealous was he of their rights and so dili- 
gently did he look after their interest that they continued 
to lionor liim from time to time. They first made him 
their prosecuting attorney. They then made him a judge 
to preside over their nisi prius courts, and then they sent 
him to the Fifty-fifth Congress. Still trusting him — for he 
never betrayed them — seven times they conferred this 
great honor upon him. ' 

He died at his home in Dawson, Ga., during last Janu- 
ary, while he was still a Member of Congress. He passed 
away at his own liome, in the midst of those splendid 
people among whom he cast his lot, surrounded by his 
own devoted family and loving friends, lamented by the 
people of his whole district as few men ever have been. 
His faithful wife, his friend and life companion, for whom 
he always showed such great respect and devotion, was 
with him in the last hours to administer to his comforts. 

To say that he was a successful lawyer, a diligent prose- 
cuting oflicer, an impartial judge, a faithful party leader, 
an able Representative in Congress, is in itself a great 

LIOIJ 



MiiMoiuAi, Ai)i)Hi;ssi:s : Iii:i'Hi;si:MAri\i: (Ihkkis 

tribute to pay to any man. James M. Griggs was all of 
this, and more. He had a sunny disposition, he was kind, 
open-hearted, open-handed, generous to a faidt. and 
always approachable. 

In politics he was an uncompromising Democrat, and he 
stood high in the councils of his party, both in State and 
Nation. He was looked upon as one of the leaders of his 
party in the country, and was twice made chairman of the 
Democratic congressional committee. Soon after coming 
to Congress his ability was recognized, and he was placed 
upon some of the most important committees of the 
House of Representatives. At his death he was a member 
of the Committee on Ways and Means, which is considered 
the most important committee in the House, where he 
served with conspicuous ability. His work and influence 
were not alone confined to the committees on which he 
served, but he frequently debated with eloquence and 
ability the great questions which from time to time came 
before the Congress to be settled. He was a fluent speaker, 
possessor of a store of rare wit, was quick at repartee, and 
had all of those splendid qualities which make a popular 
and eloquent speaker, which always please the people and 
captivate tlfe audience. He was loved and esteemed by 
botli Democrats and Republicans, and 1 doubt if there 
was any man in the House of Representatives who was 
loved more by both sides of the Chamber than James 
Mathews Griggs. 

Mr. Griggs was a member of the Baptist Churchj which 
he loved, and to the cause of Christianity he was always a 
liberal contributor. 

" He did as he thougiit best for his country, which he 
loved with all his heart under a sense of duty to God." 

Death is the lifting of the thin veil separating time and 
eternity, and as he left this earth he simply went upon the 
other shore, " across the river to rest under the shade of 

[102] 



Address of Mr. Overman, of North Carolina 

the trees." His place is vacant. His name is recorded 
among our public men who lived in the past. 

Mr. President, it is sad to contemplate that our friends 
and associates, " like the leaf which chill autumn breeze 
tears rudely its hold from the wind-shaken trees," one by 
one are passing away. 

To the past go more dead faces 

Every year, 
As the loved leave vacant places 

Every year. 
Everywhere their sad eyes meet us; 
In tlie evening's dusk they greet us. 
And to come to Iheni entreat us 

Every year. 

You are growing old, they tell us, 

Every year; 
You are more alone, they tell us. 

Every year. 
You can win no new alTection; 
You have only recollection, 
Deeper sorrow and dejection 

Every year. 

But the truer life draws nigher 

Every year. 
And its morning star climbs higher 

Every year. 
Earth's hold on us grows slighter. 
And its heavy burden lighter. 
And the dawn immortal brighter 

Every year. 



[103] 



Address of Mr. Dixon, of Montana 

Mr. President: During the pressure of the public busi- 
ness that always attends the closing days of a session of 
the National Congress, we pause this afternoon to pay 
tribute to the memory of one of our recent colleagues at 
the other end of the Capitol. 

It was my pleasure to have served four j'ears in the 
House of Representatives with James M. Gricos, who so 
ably represented the second Georgia congressional district 
for a period of 13 years. 

When I entered the House in 1903 he was already 
counted one of the leaders on the Democratic side of that 
body, holding menibcrship on the important committees 
and always active in tlie work of the House. The recogni- 
tion by his party associates of his ability as a leader of 
men and his knowledge of public measures and political 
conditions led to his election as chairman of tlie Demo- 
cratic congressional committee in the campaigns of 1904 
and 1906. 

He was stricken down in the very prime of an active life 
and at a time when his long public service had enabled 
him to be of great value to his State and to the country 
at large. " His work was not done, but his column is 
broken." 

He had reached that point in long, continuous congres- 
sional service which leads to a fuller measure of accom- 
plishment than falls to the great majority of the Members 



[104] 



Address of Mr. Dixon, of Montana 



or tlie Federal Congress, as the average term of service in 
the House of Representatives only reaches the short period 
of three years and in the Senate only seven years. 

In reading the biography of the Members of the House 
and Senate, it is remarkable to see how the earlier life 
history of the individual Members so closely coincides. 

Laying aside the recital of military service, in either the 
Union or Confederate armies, that formerly, almost with- 
out exception, was included in the biographical history of 
most Members of Congress, and in the great majority of 
cases you will read something like this: " Graduated from 
college," " taught school," " studied law," " admitted to 
the bar," " elected prosecuting attorney," " member State 
legislature," " elected judge," and then follows the recital 
of " elected to Congress." In other words, the life story 
of most of those who have served under the Dome of this 
Capitol shows the working of the processes of elimination 
and strikingly confirms the immutable law of " the sur- 
vival of the fittest " in the warfare of politics. Leaving 
out the recital of *' member State legislature " and you 
find Mr. Grigg's biographical sketch conforming in every 
detail to the standard of congressional biography. 

Congressman Griggs was a typical product of the post- 
bellum period of the new South. He was an infant in his 
mother's arms when the reverberations from Fort Sumter 
awakened the Nation to the fact that the struggle for its 
very existence was at hand. His first recollections were 
those of the tattered and defeated veterans returning from 
the broken ranks of Lee and Longstreet. He saw and felt 
the terrible results of that conflict in the wasted fields and 
desolate firesides of his native State. He was born at a 
time when his youthful energies were given to the restora- 
tion of the industries and homes of Georgia. 

He lived to see his native State proudly bear the title of 
the " Empire State of the South." As a worthy and 



[105] 



Memoriai- Addresses: Representative Griggs 

distinguished son of that State, which honors the names of 
Crawford, Johnson, Stephens, Hill, Crisp, and Gordon, 
lie bore his part with honor and fidelitj'. 

James M. Griggs fought well the battles of life and won 
more victories than fall to tlie lot of most men. In his 
death his country, his State, and the Nation have suffered 
a serious loss. 



[106] 



Address of Mr. Bacon, of Georgia 

Mr. President: During my term of service in this body 
the Senate has been three times called upon to paj' its 
tribute of respect to the memory of a deceased Repre- 
sentative from Georgia, and in each case it has fallen to 
my lot to speak the last oilicial word to be uttered of 
them in the Halls of Congress. 

Each of these Representatives was tlie victim of a sud- 
den death. One of them lost his life in a tragic accident, 
while each of the other two fell under a sudden and 
unseen stroke of death, with no preceding illness. 

The first of these was Charles F. Crisp, who had as 
Speaker and through a recognizetl leadership reaped the 
highest honors in the House of Representatives, and at 
the time of his sudden death had through a popular pri- 
mary election been already practically chosen to a seat 
in this Chamber as a Senator from his State. 

Tiie second of these was Rufus E. Lester, then the 
longest in service from Georgia in either Senate or House, 
Aviio, in his tragic death, closed a most distinguished and 
useful career in the Representative brancli of Congress. 

The last, whose loss we now mourn, James M. Griggs, 
was a younger man, cut off in the very meridian of his 
life, in the midst of the full development of all his powers. 
He was with us during the present session of Congress. 
In December last, at the beginning of the session, he was 
in his seat in the House of Representatives. When, a 
few weeks later, the holiday recess was taken, he went 

[107] 



AlE\io[iiAL Addresses: Representative Griggs 

to his home in Georgia, there to meet with liis kindred 
and friends in the joyous Christmas season. And there, 
before the close of that season, consecrated to festivity 
and loving greetings and unrestrained pleasure, while all 
hearts were still beating high with its joys, suddenly, as 
a bolt from the sky, the light of his earthly life went out, 
in the darkness of unending night. 

1 had known him personally from his early young man- 
hood. He was born in La Grange, where 1 had passed 
my schoolboy days. In my earliest meeting with him he 
had excited my interest by telling of the house in that 
town where he was born, one that I well knew as the home 
of my former family physician, a cottage wliich set back 
some distance in a garden almost hidden in the foliage 
of trees and shrubbery, and midway between it and the 
street gate a little brook spanned by a rustic bridge. 

I remember him well, just out of college, a ruddy- 
cheeked, blue-eyed, light-haired youth, full of enthusiasm 
and eager expectancy. At that time I was a member of 
the Legislature of Georgia, and it was during its sessions 
that I met him at the capital of the State and grew to 
know him and to mark him as one of the coming young 
men of the Commonwealth. Even then, boy as he was, 
eagerness for political life, with its exciting struggles and 
its varying fortunes, had already stirred and quickened 
his pulses. Through the mists of tlie years, the vision of 
which stretched out before him, imagination beckoned 
him on to the arena of political contention, and his eager 
ear caught the echo of the future strife in which he saw 
himself an active participant. Through this natural bent, 
so it was that, although then effervescing with youthful 
spirit, nevertheless he sought and enjoyed the compan- 
ionship of maturer men who were in public life. His 
interest was marked in their talk of political battles 
fought and campaigns to be waged. 

[1081 



Address of Mr. Bacon, of Georgia 



And this brings me to note at this point a curious para- 
dox in his make-up and development. It is that, while 
the earl}^ development of his bent for political life caused 
him, when scarcely more than a lad, to seek the com- 
panionship and association of older men, his youthful 
tastes and spirits, his love of boyish fun and frolic, 
remained with him not only then, but throughout his life, 
so that in his last days the man of 49 years had in his daily 
habit and demeanor all the exuberance and gayety of 
spirit of an enthusiastic boy of 20. 

The joyous, cheerful spirit was so habitual with him 
and was so written upon his countenance that, when in 
more serious mood, his gravity had the appearance of 
being assumed. Indeed, this sunny temperament, this 
joyous habit, which were his throughout life, were perhaps 
his most striking personal characteristic. His happy 
moods were infectious, ami his companionship was a very 
antidote to dullness and despondency. To him life was 
not a dreary, dismal round, whose duties and burdens 
clouded its sunshine. 

His cheerfulness and buoyancy of spirit never failed 
him. While giving due time and heed to the serious things 
of life, dull care and weary despondency were no welcome 
guests with him, and he drove them forth with jest and 
mirth. From every situation, however adverse, he drew 
the happiness of life, even as tiie honey sucked from 
the poisonous flower. He shirked not the duties of life, 
nor did he avoid its conflicts and struggles. On the con- 
trary, he sought them and bravely met them with sturdy 
and never failing courage, a smile upon his face, a song 
upon his lips. 

As valuable as it is rare is the combined gift of both wit 
and genial, unwounding lumior, and richh' was he 
endowed with them — a sparkling wit, combined with the 
kindly humor which can be known only to one of generous 



[109] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Griggs 

and sjnipathetic heart. With liiin they were ever in con- 
stant play, l)ringing pleasure to all and pain to none. His 
wit was keen and ready and his humor bright and rollick- 
ing, and these, spiced with a large and varied fund of 
anecdote, joined to a rai'e faculty and skill as a raconteur, 
made him personally indeed a most delightful companion. 

Friendship with him was not an empty affectation, a 
hollow pretense, worn upon the sleeve and laid aside when 
no longer valuable to serve a purpose. It was with him a 
vital growth from deep-struck roots. There was no more 
widely known man in Georgia than he, and there was no 
man within her borders who could number as his own a 
greater number of personal friends. Had he lived, there 
was in the State nothing of public honor or of political 
preferment that was not within his reach. 

Devoted to his public duties as a Representative, diligent 
and faithful in their discharge, bound to his people by the 
strong cords of long and faithful service, of confidence in 
iiis fidelity and in his ability, and as well by the unsever- 
able ties of personal friendship and long personal inter- 
communion and association, in his congressional district 
he was invincible. It is no idle word when I say that no 
public man has fallen at his post who has been more 
deeply and more sincerely mourned than has he, by the 
devoted people whom he has so long and so faithfully 
served. 

Mr. President, the touching and loving tributes of his 
colleagues of the House and Senate, all of them long his 
personal and political associates, have told the story of 
his life, and it only remains for me to speak the final word. 
And, sir, as I speak it my vision turns to the plains of south 
Georgia where he sleeps; and I see again, as I saw in my 
childhood, the wide stretches of field and forest, and I 
Iiear again, as 1 heard as a child, the soughing of the south- 
ern pines. When apparently no breeze stirs their thick- 

[110] 



Address of Mr. Bacon, of Georgia 



sot and lofty tops, w lien all else is still, to the listening ear 
there strangely conies down from their towering height 
the continuing, awesome, distant sound, mysterious as the 
never-silent murmur of the sea shell, solemn as the weird 
moan of the far-off waves. 

And there, sir, safe in the loving keeping of his own 
sorrowing people, and above him the ever-recurring 
re(iuiem of the soughing pines, may he rest until again 
awakened to a brighter and a still happier day. 

Mr. President, 1 otfcr the resolution which I send to the 
desk. 

The President pro tempore. The Secretary will read 
the resolution submitted by tiie Senator from Georgia. 

The Secretary read the resolution as follows: 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of 
the deceased the Senate do now adjourn. 

The President pro tempore. The question is on agree- 
ing to the resolution submitted by the Senator from 
Georgia. 

The resolution was unanimously agreed to, and (at 2 
o'clock and 58 minutes p. m.) the Senate adjourned until 
Tuesdaj', May 31, 1910, at 11 o'clock a. m. 






[111] 



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LE S 'II 



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